(Quentin Sickafoose/CHSAANow.com)
LOVELAND — The Paonia girls basketball team’s perfect season remains unblemished.
The Eagles, who entered the Class 2A state tournament at the Budweiser Events Center on Thursday as the No. 2 seed, continued their undefeated roll with a 55-44 victory over No. 7 Swink in the opening round.
But the game was closer than the score suggests.
Paonia, which has won all but one of its now 23 games by double digits, was tested by a Lions squad that also boasted an impressive resume. Swink had lost only twice before Thursday, and those defeats were to teams that finished No. 2 in 2A (Del Norte) and No. 4 in 3A (Centauri) in the final CHSAANow.com rankings of the season.
“That’s a team that probably shouldn’t have been a 7-seed,” Paonia coach Scott Rienks said. “(Swink coach Curt Lewis) is one of the best coaches in Colorado, and you know when you play him that he’s going to have his kids ready.”
The Eagles and Lions exchanged strikes throughout a tight-knit first half. Paonia leaned heavily on senior Emily Peiper, who finished with a team-high 16 points, to get its offense going early on.
After facing a slight, two-point halftime deficit, the Eagles put together an 11-2 run following the break to put themselves in position. But the Lions then found a way to match that pace and never trailed by more than eight points, pulling to within one late in the game.
Senior Sophia Anderson came through for Paonia in the second half, scoring 11 of her 15 points after halftime. Swink sophomore Brianna Denton led all scorers with 18 points and her teammate Kyla O’Neal put up 15.
“Having Sophia (Anderson) on the court in the second half was big. I need her on the offensive end,” Rienks said. “We know, with our pressure, that we can wear teams down. And that’s a big thing.”
Paonia advances to the Final 4, where they will face Del Norte at 4 p.m. Friday. Swink will play Haxtun at 11:45 a.m. Friday in the consolation semifinals.
(1) Yuma 43, (8) Ignacio 18
A dominant second half powered the defending champion Indians past the Bobcats in first game of the state tournament on Thursday morning.
Ignacio (16-7) hung close with top-ranked Yuma (21-3) for the first two quarters, facing just a five-point deficit going into halftime. The Indians then broke the game open with a 17-4 advantage in the third quarter and never let up.
Yuma’s Cody Robinson finished as the game’s leading scorer with 19 points. Her teammate Avery Whitehead added another 10 points, which included hitting a pair of key of 3-pointers in the third quarter that put her team up for good.
The Indians advance to Friday’s semifinals, where they will play Wray at 7 p.m.
Ignacio was led by Alejandra Lujan, who had a team-high eight points, while Morgan Herrera contributed seven. This was the Bobcats’ first state appearance since 2013 and first under fourth-year coach Shance Seibel. They move to the consolation semifinals, where they will face Simla at 8:45 a.m. Friday.
(4) Wray 66, (5) Simla 25
The Eagles were dominant from start to finish in the opening round, punching their ticket to the Final 4.
Wray (18-6) boasted a strong, balanced offensive attack that featured Paige Beckman and Morgan Smith, who finished as the game’s top scorers with 12 points each. Megan Godsey and Paige Brown were also big factors with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Simla (19-5) was unable to post a double-digit scoring quarter and suffered from getting out to a slow start and early 7-0 deficit. Jerraldawn Rector finished as the Cubs’ leading scorer with six points.
The Eagles will face top-ranked Yuma in the Final 4 at 7 p.m. Friday. The Cubs will meet Ignacio in the semifinals of the consolation bracket at 8:45 a.m. Friday.
(3) Del Norte 59, (6) Haxtun 44
It was anybody’s game at halftime, as the Tigers and Bulldogs went back and forth only to be separated by just three points after two quarters. Then the separation began.
Del Norte (22-2) returned to the floor with a 14-3 run after the break, creating a gap that proved to be too big to recover from for Haxtun (19-5)
Bailey Jones was the star of the game, scoring an eye-catching 27 points that included going 8-for-8 and the free-throw line and knocking down a trio of 3-pointers. Teammate Kendra Parra also reached double figures with 10 points.
Dawson Knode finished as the Bulldogs’ leading scorer with 21 points, while Callie Dickerson added 11.
Del Norte advances to the Final 4, where it will face No. 2 Paonia at 4 p.m. Friday. Haxtun will play No. 7 Swink in the consolation bracket at 11:45 a.m.