The Roaring Fork High School basketball teams both find themselves in the thick of the 3A Western Slope League race halfway through the conference schedule after the latest round of action.
With the last three games on the road, the Roaring Fork girls scored an important win, 64-43, at Gunnison on Saturday, following a close loss at Olathe on Friday, 53-48.
Earlier in the week, it was defending league champs and 2023 state semifinalist Grand Valley topping the Rams, 65-35, in Parachute.
Against Olathe, the Rams were up 39-34 late in the third quarter, before the Pirates were able to capitalize on some turnovers to claim the win. Freshman Riley Bevington was the leading scorer on the night with 12 points, with nine each coming from junior Carly Crownhart and sophomore Nikki Tardif.
After spending the night in Montrose, it was on to Gunnison the next day for a chance at getting things back on track to close out the first round of games against conference opponents.
Crownhart, who is now averaging 18.4 points per game and is one of the leading scorers among the 3A girls in the state, helped secure the win with 24 points.
Tardif and senior Lelaney Gardesani each contributed 13 points. “Lelany has really been coming on strong,” Rams head coach Mike Vidakovich said. He also noted that Tardif is averaging 11.4 rebounds per game.
The win moved the Roaring Fork girls to 6-5 overall and 3-3 in the league, putting them in fourth place among eight Western Slope teams heading into a key stretch of rematch games with their league opponents.
Gentlemen Rams
The Roaring Fork boys find themselves in second place among the seven 3A schools in their league after rebounding from a 61-53 loss at Grand Valley to score a 90-52 win over Olathe and winning 55-36 at Gunnison.
The return of senior Noel Richardson to the lineup after he had been sick coming out of the holiday break made a big difference. Richardson led all scorers with 25 points on Friday, and he had some crucial support from sophomores Kiko Pena (17), Lucas Carballeira (14) and Ethan Wilson (11) in the Olathe win.
Pena also had 17 rebounds (10 defensive and seven offensive) to help keep the Pirates at bay.
For the win at Gunnison, Carballeira led the team with 11 points, while Pena had 10 to go with his 12 rebounds and three steals, according to stats posted to MaxPreps Colorado.
The boys team now stands at 5-8 overall and 4-2 in league.
A trip to North Fork on Friday kicks off the second round of league games, followed by a five-game home stand in Carbondale that begins with Cedaredge on Feb. 2 and league-leading Meeker on Feb. 3.
The girls will have the same schedule to close out the regular season, with one addition — a Feb. 6 trip to Aspen, where the Lady Skiers play at the 3A level while their counterparts on the boys team play in the 4A league.
Girls swimming results
The Glenwood Springs High School girls swimming team, which includes several swimmers from Carbondale, was at the Grand Junction High School Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 20.
The Demons won the 10-team meet with 510 points, well ahead of second place Gunnison at 348, to remain undefeated as a team this season.
Amelie Ogilby, a senior at Colorado Rocky Mountain School, swept her two individual events, the 100 backstroke in 58.36 seconds and the 500 freestyle in 5 minutes, 7.92 seconds. She was also a member of Glenwood’s winning 200 medley and 400 relay teams.
Isabella Moon, from Redstone, placed sixth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 6:30.04, and was 13th in the 100 backstroke in 1:14.66. She was also part of the sixth-place 200 medley and fourth-place 400 relay teams.
Roaring Fork High School senior Luciana Phillips was part of the eighth-place 200 medley relay.