Both Roaring Fork High School basketball teams sandwiched a pair of 3A Western Slope League wins between a couple of tough losses to open the post-holiday schedule this past week.
The Rams boys, after a nailbiter at Meeker on Jan. 10 that ended in a 43-41 Cowboys win, grabbed wins on the road Friday at Cedaredge, 58-50, and on the home court Saturday, 52-38 over North Fork, before dropping a 61-53 decision to previously winless Grand Valley in Parachute on Tuesday.
“Grand Valley did not play like an 0-7 team,” Roaring Fork coach Jason Kreiling said. “It was probably their best game so far, and our worst, even with Noel back.”
Senior scoring leader Noel Richardson had to sit out the first three games to start the conference season due to illness, which gave some of the team’s younger players a chance to step it up.
Sophomore Ethan Wilson helped fill the gap with 12 points against Meeker, while fellow sophomore Kiko Pena contributed nine.
Against Cedaredge, it was another sophomore, Lucas Carballeira, who led the team with 19 points. Then, the 10th-grade trio scored 12, 17 and 12, respectively, in the North Fork win before the hometown fans.
“Noel is our leading scorer, so this gave these younger guys an opportunity to show that we can play and compete without him if we have to,” Kreiling said.
Before the break, Kreiling spoke to the importance of those younger players stepping up to support Richardson and not letting him do all the work.
“We saw a different guy each night do that while he was out, and so it was an eye-opening experience for them,” he said.
After jumping out to a 15-7 lead on Tuesday at Grand Valley, however, the Rams couldn’t contain the host Cardinals in the second and fourth quarters of the game, during which they were outscored 41-25, with an even 13-13 third quarter.
The loss dropped the Rams to 3-8 overall and 2-2 in league play ahead of a stretch of road games that will take them to Olathe this Friday, Gunnison on Saturday, and a rematch with North Fork in Hotchkiss on Jan. 26.

Lady Rams
In Tuesday’s opener, the Roaring Fork girls faced off with the undefeated Lady Cardinals, falling to the defending league champs 65-35 — the host team (now 9-0) opening with an 11-2 run in the first and blowing out the Rams in the second half.
“They’re a good team, with some big girls and physical play and some outside shooters,” Rams coach Mike Vidakovich said of Grand Valley.
Prior to that, the Roaring Fork girls topped North Fork in commanding fashion at home on Saturday, 59-22, and on Friday beat Cedaredge, 43-34, on the road. The Jan. 10 road contest went Meeker’s way, 57-50.
Sophomore Carly Crownhart was the leading scorer through all four games, notching 17 points at Meeker, 23 at Cedaredge, 29 in the win over North Fork, and 14 at Grand Valley. Sophomore Nikki Tardif pulled down 11 rebounds versus North Fork.
The Rams girls stand at 5-4 overall and 2-2 in the league, ahead of the same slate of upcoming games as the boys.
“The games this weekend are pretty big for us,” Vidakovich said. “After this long road trip is over, we close with six out of seven games at home, so that will be huge.”
Roaring Fork returns to the home court on Feb. 2 versus Cedaredge.