Several vie for Regional titles Saturday

VALLEY-The Antonito Lady Trojans and the Creede/Lake City Miners are state-bound as they won their games on Friday in Gunnison while several other teams battled for the opportunity to play on Saturday and earn a spot.

Antonito 65, Ouray 36 (G)
GUNNISON-Long 3-point shots and strong rebounding helped the Antonito Trojans win the Class 1A Western Regional championship and advance to the Great Eight at the state tournament next weekend. Antonito, who is now 23-0 on the season, won the game 65-36.

The Antonito Trojans opened up with three 3-pointers, including two by junior Joslyn Garcia, in the first quarter to take an 18-8 lead after one frame. Antonito kept their pressure on in the second quarter as they outscored Ouray 17-12 to take a 15-point advantage, 35-10. In the first half, Antonito had seven scorers with Garcia scoring eight points and the team going 7-of-8 from the free throw line.

Garcia kept the pace up by scoring five points in the opening four minutes of the second half to give them a 42-24 lead. The Trojans saw senior Erykah Tallman come alive as she hit three field goals and scored seven points in the quarter.

Antonito then closed out the game with three 3-pointers in the final eight minutes while holding Ouray to just four points.

The Trojans were led by Garcia's 16 points while Tallman scored 15 and Tyana Sanchez scored 10 points. Ouray was led by Wendy Woods and Mariah Crandall, who scored 10points each. Antonito nailed 9 3-pointers in the game and hit 8-of-9 from the free throw line while Ouray hit one trey and went 7-of-13 from the free throw line.

Ouray 44, Sangre de Cristo 40 (B)
GUNNISON-The Thunderbirds could not buy shots in the first quarter as the Trojans jumped out to a 14-7 lead including six points from Lincoln Sackman and five from Brendon Olin.

In the second frame, the Trojans kept the pressure up as the lead grew to as many as 16 points by hitting three 3-pointers. The Thunderbirds closed the gap to 12 points in the final minute of the first half with a 4-0 run. With the halftime score 31-19, the Thunderbirds got five points from Cole Cooper in that second quarter.

The Thunderbirds out scored the Trojans 6-3 in the third quarter but Ouray held a 34-25 entering the final quarter.

Sangre de Cristo nailed three consecutive three-pointers early in the fourth quarter to shift momentum towards the Thunderbirds. With 5:45 remaining in the game Sangre de Cristo had cut the deficit to four points before Ouray slowed the play down and milked the clock. Ouray continued to keep control of the ball in the final quarter before they got the win.

Leading Ouray on the scoreboard was Ravi Inmon with 12 points while Sangre de Cristo was led by Jared Sinclair with 13 points and Grant Beiriger scored 10 points.

Creede/Lake City 57, North Park 51 (B)
The Creede/Lake City Miners were able to escape for a 6-point win over North Park.

The first quarter was narrow with a deep 3-pointer from Marcos Romero to cut into the Wildcat's lead to 14-12.

Creede took a 30-26 lead heading into halftime following four successful free throws by Isaac Borchers.

The Miners struck first in the third quarter, going on a 4-0 run before the Wildcats could get on the scoreboard. Creede extended their lead to six before North Park began chipping away the Miners’ lead. Creede held a three-point lead through the middle of the third quarter as the hot, early pace of the game seemed to seep into the legs of both teams. A trio of three-pointers lit the scoreboard up near the end of the third quarter.

North Park’s Bryce Carlstrom hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 39, before Creede responded with one of their own. The Miners held a 41-39 lead over the Wildcats heading into the fourth quarter.

Creede went on a 5-0 run to start the fourth quarter, before the Wildcats attempted to rally. The Wildcats tied the game at 38 with three minutes remaining, but the Miners quickly responded by going on a 4-0 run. Creede held a 52-48 lead with 2:07 remaining in the game, and successfully slowed the game down.

Alamosa 52, Rye 44 (B)
BAYFIELD-The Alamosa Mean Moose took on the Bayfield Wolverines on Friday night as they pulled out an 8-point win.

Alamosa was able to hit three straight 3-pointers to take a 12-7 lead after one quarter. Noah Romero scored 11 points in the first half as the Mean Moose scored 10 points in the second quarter and took a 22-14 lead into the break.

Alamosa then saw the lead grow to 16 points but they only took a 33-25 lead into the fourth quarter as Alamosa was 3-of-11 at the free throw line.

Both teams scored 19 points in the final quarter with Romero scoring 10 of his team-high 25 points in the fourth quarter including 8-of-8 from the free throw line.

The Thunderbolts were led by Bailey, as he scored 15 points.

No. 28 Delta defeated No. 5 Bayfield 78-75 as the Wolverines erased a 21-point deficit and had shot at buzzer twice, but they couldn't score and the Wolverines were eliminated. Alamosa will now look to defeat Delta at 1 p.m. on Friday at Bayfield High School.

Centauri 65, Buena Vista 28 (G)
LA JARA-The Centauri Falcons dominated the Buena Vista Demons on Friday night as the No. 2 seeded team put the game way from the No. 31 seeded Buena Vista Demons early en-route to their 37-point win.

The game opened up with Centauri controlling all faucets of the game as they led 25-7 after the first quarter.

They saw the lead grow to 37-12 at the half before taking a 57-22 lead into the final quarter.

Centauri was led by Ember Canty who scored 14 points while Caroline VanBerkum scored 13 points, Melissa Wilson scored 12 points while Alyssa Gomez scored 10.

Demons hit 10 field goals in the game.

The Falcons will play the Grand Valley Cardinals for the title on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Center 52, Norwood 45 (G)
GUNNISON-It took double overtime but when the dust settled the Center Lady Vikings were victorious as they outscored Norwood 12-5 in the overtime periods and senior Jordan Lobato really pushed for the win with the final points of the game as she scored 10 points.

The game started with the Vikings hitting five of 10 from the free throw line and 3-pointer from Aaliyah Porres to cut the lead to 14-10 in favor of the Mavericks.

The Vikings then continued on the free throws as they hit 5-of-10 in the second quarter and outscored Norwood 12-5 to take a 22-19 advantage into the break.

In the third quarter both teams scored 12 points before the Mavericks scored 9 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 31 going into overtime.

Norwood seemed determine to find a way to win after missing two game winning shots at the end of the fourth and overtime periods.

Porres lead the Vikings with 11 points, and managed to hit three 3-pointers, while Malkya Medina tallied 10 points on the game.

The Vikings who are now 11-12 on the season will have a tough match up against No. 1 Paonia, Saturday at 4 p.m. at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison.

Other Final Scores
Olathe 46, Monte Vista 38 (G)
Telluride 64, Center 60 (B)
Rangely 49, Sanford 43 (G)
Nucla 42, Sierra Grande 37 (G)
Del Norte 56, Hotchkiss 43 (B)