VIDEO: Top 10 Basketball Plays of the Week // Week 1 ... featuring a dunk by Regis Jesuit's Francesca Belibi.
Along with the breath of fresh air that comes with heading into a new year comes an intense slate of girls basketball in the month of January.
Games returned to Colorado last week and plenty of top teams were back in action and getting their sea legs back for when they begin conference play this month. Some teams will see tournament play prior to jumping into league games, but with the arrival of the first full week of competition following the winter break, January will not be short on action.
There will be plenty of top non-league games to go along with matchups that could serve as early league deciding contests. These all follow a solid showing of basketball in December, a month that saw solid top matchups along with impressive individual feats.
Regis Jesuit (Aurora) came away with a big 79-55 win over defending Class 5A champion Grandview. On top of a crowd-pleasing slam dunk, Stanford commit
Francesca Bellibi scored a game-high 32 points and also pulled down 15 rebounds. She got plenty of help from
Avery Vansickle who added 26 points of her own.
Down the highway a bit,
Ashten Prechtel of
Discovery Canyon (Colorado Springs), who, along with Belibi, also showed why she garnered so much interest from Stanford. The 6-foot-5 center recorded her first triple-double of the year in a 43-39 win over
Manitou Springs. She scored 22 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and blocked 10 shots. She continued to dominate the inside through the month, grabbing a staggering 22 rebounds in a loss to
Mesa Ridge (Colorado Springs). Prechtel is averaging an easy double-double on the year, scoring 19.7 a game and hauling in 15.8 rebounds.
Pagosa Springs junior
Hailey Griego shined on a big stage as she scored a career-high 26 points in an impressive win over then No. 4
Eaton. The Pirates' only losses of the year have come to
Colorado Springs Christian and
St. Mary's (Colorado Springs), two of the top teams in 3A who also have the top two scorers in the class.
Megan Engesser averages 22.1 for CSCS wile
Josephine Howery is going for 20.4 a night for St. Mary's.
Kendra Parra, a junior from
Del Norte, has established herself early as she has already gone over the 20-point mark in five games this year. Twice she's gone over 30, and as a result the Tigers are in the early conversation as a team to watch in 2A.
A balanced scoring and rebounding combination from
Kaylee Corsentino has
La Veta playing solid basketball early in the year. It wasn't until the sixth game of the year that she scored fewer than 20 points and her season low on rebounds is eight. The Redskins sit at 5-3 overall on the year and dive into the bulk of their league schedule this month.
Through the month of January there are plenty of contests to keep an eye on, highlighted by the 10 listed below.
Class 5AHighlands Ranch (10-1) at Mountain Vista (8-4), 7 p.m., Jan. 11This Continental League opener for both teams will go a long way in setting the tone for the overall outlook in the coming weeks. Both
Highlands Ranch and
Mountain Vista (Highlands Ranch) are coming off big games against other 5A powerhouses, but each team experienced a different result. The Falcons grabbed a 57-45 win over
Horizon (Thornton). Mountain Vista stumbled a bit in their return from winter break, falling to
Ralston Valley (Arvada) 56-40. Sophomore
Amiya Robinson led the Golden Eagles with 14 points and junior
Mackenzie Gamble added 10. Highlands Ranch is averaging just shy of 60 points per game, with seniors
Kasey Neubert (16.6 points per game),
Jamie Bain (13.8) and
Autumn Watts (11.3) leading the way. This will be just the fifth game for Highlands Ranch in which they'll face a team from Colorado. They already have wins over top teams in
Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village) and Horizon. The win over Cherry Creek came at the Nike Tournament of Champions.
Cherry Creek (7-2) at Grandview (8-3), 1 p.m., Jan 12
Just a day later 5A will see another league game that will have major implications for a league outlook. Cherry Creek heads to
Grandview (Aurora) in a major Centennial League clash. The addition of
Cali Clark has paid
Cali Clark (12), Cherry Creek.
File photo by Darin Sicurello
dividends for Cherry Creek. A former 3A player of the year, Clark is averaging a double-double with 12.8 points per game to go with 10 rebounds. She scored a season high 24 points in a 56-50 over Lake Highland Prep at the Nike Tournament of Champions.
Jana Van Gytenbeek has also played up to her potential so far this season. She's scored in double figures in all but one game for the Bruins and has gone over 20 points in five of the nine game they've played. Grandview has shown to be more balanced offensively. Senior
Alisha Davis leads the Wolves with 13.2 points per game, but it's the 10 points that freshman
Lauren Betts averages that has been a factor for the Wolves. Betts also plays a major role on the glass, grabbing 8.5 rebounds a game. She's pulled down 11 boards three different times already this year. The Jan. 12 game is just the first meeting of these two teams. They'll see each other again in early February.
Horizon (10-3) at Fossil Ridge (9-1), 6:30 p.m., Jan. 15Looking north, a looming showdown between Horizon and
Fossil Ridge (Fort Collins) is sure to make waves in the Front Range League. Both teams will be a few games into league play by the time they square off so any lingering nerves should be worked out by that point. Horizon's three losses have come against Grandview, Cherry Creek and Highlands Ranch. Fossil Ridge's lone loss this year happened against Cherry Creek, but the Sabercats got an outstanding performance out of senior
Ashley Steffeck. Although she didn't have the best shooting night, she found a way to score in bunches, totaling 18 points in the loss. She's been the steady hand all season for Fossil Ridge. The Horizon senior duo of
Alyssa Jimenez and
Samantha Deem have been interchangeable when it comes to scoring. Jimenez leads the Hawks with an average of 14.9 points per game, while Deem adds 13.6.
Class 4APueblo South (10-1) at Pueblo West (9-1), 7 p.m., Jan 25In the first clash of these rivals from 4A's South Central League, two of the state's top players will be on display.
Hannah Simental of
Pueblo West started her season in a dead sprint, scoring an average of 28.5 points in her first four games. That included a staggering 37-point performance as Pueblo West beat Mesa Ridge 68-36 on Dec. 5. For
Pueblo South,
Gabi Lucero continues to show why she's one of the best post players in the state, regardless of classification. She's averaging 21 points per game and scored a season-high 33 in a 69-52 win over Denver South on Dec. 1. In her first seven games of the year she grabbed no fewer than 12 rebounds.
Class 4A/3A
Montrose (13-1) at Delta (6-1), 6 p.m., Jan. 15The Western Slope won't be short on fun games this month.
Montrose will stay somewhat close to home when it travels to Delta in the middle of the month. The Indians are strong defensively as they surrender less than 27 points per game. It also helps that junior
Kennadie Minerich averages 12.4 points per game to go with three rebounds and 2.6 steals. She gets plenty of support from classmate
Josie Eccher, who is not shy when it comes to firing up 3-pointers. She's connected on 27 long-range shots which is tied for the lead in all of 4A.
Delta started the season on a nice run and came away undefeated in tournament play heading into winter break. The Panthers' lone loss on the season is to
Centauri (La Jara), another top team in 3A. They return to the court on Friday against
Roaring Fork (Carbondale). In their most recent game, they topped
Cedaredge 57-36. Junior
Sara Geddes led with 15 points while freshman
Erika Kuta added 11.
Class 3APagosa Springs (6-2) at Centauri (8-1), 5:30 p.m., Jan. 12Greigo leads a talented Pagosa Springs team into Centauri this Saturday night and looks to gain an early edge in the Intermountain League. She leads the Pirates in both points (12) and rebounds (6.3) per game. She'll need support from senior
Devin Wilson to help the Pirates score more than the 35 points a game the Centauri defense
Josephine Howery, St. Mary's.
File photo by Jeffrey Tucker
allows.
Melissa Wilson sets the tone for Centauri with 14.6 points per game, but it's the 3.9 steals she averages that could play a deciding role in the contest. She has recorded at least one steal in each game this year and gone for as many as eight (in the Falcons' season-opening win against Sargent).
St. Mary's (7-0) at Colorado Springs Christian (8-0), Jan. 26
The top two teams in the Tri-Peaks League will meet in a rematch of last year's 3A state championship. These rivals have been a part of some legendary showdowns in recent years. St. Mary's won the regular-season meeting last year, but it was Colorado Springs Christian who claimed the district championship game two weeks later. The Pirates won the rubber match in the state title game. The Lions return the one-two punch of Engesser and
Rachel Ingram. Engesser averages 22.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, while Ingram adds 16.3 points, 4.3 assists and 4.4 steals per game. Howery (20.4),
Seneca Hackley (14.6) and
Catherine Cummings (11.3) all average scores in the double figures for St. Mary's. Team numbers in rebounds and steals are similar making this one of the best 3A games of the month – and maybe the year- to check out.
Class 2AHolyoke (4-2) at Wray (7-1), 3:30 p.m., Jan. 19The senior/sophomore duo of
Morgan Smith and
Tabby Jones has
Wray in the conversation of 2A contenders. Smith's 12.8 points lead the Eagles, but it's her nearly 10 defensive rebounds a game that has truly been a factor in Wray's 7-1 start thus far. Junior
Taeryn Trumper leads
Holyoke with 13 points per game but her 22 points in a 60-53 win over
Haxtun on Dec. 14 that should serve notice that she and the Dragons are not to be taken lightly. The winner of this game will hold an early edge in 2A's District 2 standings.
Simla (5-1) at Limon (7-1), 4:30 p.m., Jan. 22
Limon might be the most balanced team in 2A. Not a single player averages at least 10 points per game, yet the team scores more than 50 total points each contest. Junior
Toni Lopez is the top scorer, averaging 9.8 points and also records a couple of assists, rebounds and steals in the process.
Anna Weisensee is also close to double figures, but still not quite there. She contributes nine points a night. For now
Simla has the edge when it comes to the Black Forest League, but the game against Limon plays into a much bigger scope in the 2A class. The Cubs will rely on sophomore
Kaitlyn Rector (15.3 points per game) and senior
Kegan Hamacher (12.5) to keep pace with the well-balanced Badgers.
Class 1ADe Beque (7-1) at North Park (4-2), 1 p.m., Jan. 12The high-powered offense of
De Beque has the Dragons winners of their last six games heading into this weekend. They score nearly 60 points per game and have broken the 60-point barrier in five of their eight games. Their season is 76 which came in a win over
Creede on Dec. 8. Senior
Jentry Largent looked strong heading into winter break, scoring 21 in a win over
Plateau Valley (Collbran) and 24 in a win over
Norwood.
North Park (Walden) plays to its strength on the defensive side of the ball. The Wildcats have allowed their opponents to score more than 40 points just twice all year.
