Basketball Recap: Widefield Comes Up Short

Widefield lost against Mesa Ridge back in January, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Thursday. The Widefield Gladiators received a blow as they fell 69-50 to the Mesa Ridge Grizzlies. While losing is never fun, the Gladiators can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 203rd, while the Grizzlies are ranked 23rd).

Amari Taylor

Points

02/20/25 vs Mesa Ridge	16
02/17/25 vs Cheyenne Mountain	15
02/14/25 @ Canon City	14
02/11/25 vs Canon City	3
02/08/25 vs Sierra	11
+ 16 more games

When it comes to explaining why Widefield lost, don't look at Amari Taylor. Despite the final result, he went 7-for-12 to rack up 16 points. Taylor continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Tate Washington, who posted ten points and five boards.

Bryce Riehl was his usual excellent self, going 9-for-14 en route to 25 points and five rebounds for Mesa Ridge. What's more, Riehl also posted a 64% shooting accuracy, which is the highest he's achieved since back in December of 2024. Another player making a difference was Zander Iwanski, who went 5-for-9 on his way to 13 points and five boards.

Widefield is on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 9-13. As for Mesa Ridge, the win was the 21st in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 21-1.

Widefield has already played their next contest, a 63-41 defeat against Harrison on the 22nd. As for Mesa Ridge, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 66-53 victory against Falcon on the 21st.