Basketball Recap: Jaylyn Quezada's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Sierra Grande over Cheyenne Wells

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Sierra Grande can now relate to. They took a 50-37 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Cheyenne Wells Tigers on Friday. The Panthers lost against the Tigers in their previous head to head back in March of 2022, too, but the margin this time around was much closer than the 57-23 score last time.

Jaylyn Quezada

Steals

03/01/25 vs Creede	15
02/14/25 @ Sangre de Cristo	10
01/16/25 @ Lake City Community	8
02/27/25 vs Trinidad	7
02/15/25 vs Center	6
+ 17 more games

Several Panthers players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Jaylyn Quezada, who posted 13 points and five steals. Quezada is becoming a predictor of Sierra Grande's success: when she posts at least five steals the team is 11-2 (and 3-8 when she doesn't). Another player making a difference was Eneria Quintana, who had 12 points and four steals.

Paige Ryser was her usual excellent self, dropping a double-double with 24 points and 12 steals for Cheyenne Wells. That makes it three consecutive games in which Ryser has scored at least a third of Cheyenne Wells' points. Roxy Unruh was another key player, putting up eight points in addition to five boards and five steals.

Sierra Grande's loss dropped their record down to 14-10. As for Cheyenne Wells, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-8 record this season.

Sierra Grande does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Cheyenne Wells, they wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next match, a 45-28 defeat against Fleming on the 8th.