The Mountain Range Mustangs's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their eighth straight defeat. Their rough 59-35 loss to Fossil Ridge might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, Mountain Range can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 205th, while Fossil Ridge is ranked 59th).
Mountain Range's loss came despite strong showings from Josieraye Running Wolf and Delilah Lucero. Running Wolf scored 15 points, while Lucero scored 13 points.
Mountain Range struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only two offensive rebounds. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Fossil Ridge pulled down 20 offensive rebounds.
Fossil Ridge found their leader in underclassman Elli Johnson, who almost dropped a double-double on 12 points and nine rebounds. Johnson has been hot recently, having posted three or more steals the last three times she's played. Natalie Lin was another key contributor, scoring 11 points along with five assists and two steals.
Mountain Range dropped their record down to 6-13 with that loss, which was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season. That rough patch could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 29.4 points per game. As for Fossil Ridge, they have been performing well recently as they've won six of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-9 record this season.
Mountain Range has the luxury of staying home another game and will welcome Northglenn at 5:00 p.m. on February 9th. Northglenn will be up against Mountain Range's rather soft defense (which has allowed 52.11 points per matchup), so fans could be in store for a big offensive showing. As for Fossil Ridge, they will head out on the road to face off against Rocky Mountain at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Fossil Ridge focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 15 on Tuesday.
