A crucial senior night win for the Roaring Fork High School boys basketball team on Friday, and an impressive showing for the girls against a top-three state-ranked team paved the way for a legitimate shot for both teams to play for a district championship this week.
The Rams girls played the league champion Grand Valley Cardinals to within six points to close out the regular season, falling 42-36 to a team that beat them by 30 points a month ago. Then on Tuesday, after an early scare, they pulled away from the visiting North Fork Miners to open the 3A West Slope District Tournament, winning 56-38 to advance to this Friday’s semifinal round.
The boys also kept up their winning ways after joining the girls as second-place finishers in the league, downing Grand Valley 58-44 on Friday before beating the Olathe Pirates at home Tuesday, 73-38, to keep their hopes for a state playoff berth alive.
“Our defense played really well tonight,” boys head coach Jason Kreiling said after the tourney win. “I keep telling these boys to take some pride in their defense, and that’ll get us those easy buckets.”
Senior Noel Richardson led the scoring with 18 points, sophomore Kiko Pena had 12 and freshman Quentin Galbraith came off the bench to score 10.
Against Grand Valley, it was Richardson with 19, sophomore Lucas Carballeira with 15 and junior Sam Brennan with 10. Pena had 13 rebounds on the night.
“I feel like these guys are finally kind of coming together, and it’s the right time of year for that to happen,” coach Kreiling said. “Everybody wants to be playing their best basketball right now, and I feel like we’re right there.”
Now it’s on to Grand Junction on Friday, where the Rams (10-10) will play Cedaredge (9-11) in a semifinal game for the right to play for a district championship Saturday. The other semifinal pits league champion Meeker (17-2) against Grand Valley (8-12).

Lady Rams move on
The Roaring Fork girls are also looking strong going into Friday’s semifinal matchup with Olathe, with their own trip to Saturday’s championship game on the line.
The Lady Rams were down by 14 at halftime against undefeated Grand Valley on Friday, before chipping away at the lead in the second half and pulling to within striking distance late in the game before taking the loss.
In Tuesday’s tournament opener, Roaring Fork had to overcome a North Fork team that kept it close with several 3-point shots that had the Miners within eight points to open the fourth quarter. Rams junior Carley Crownhart and senior Lelaney Gardesani made some key buckets down the stretch to open the lead and get the win.
Crownhart finished with 19, sophomore Nikki Tardif and freshman Riley Bevington had 12 each and Gardesani had 10 for the night. Tardif also had a game-high 13 rebounds.
“These girls work so hard, and they just play together and the open person always gets the ball,” head coach Mike Vidakovich said after Tuesday’s win. “We have some trouble scoring at times, and I think that’s just a matter of taking a deep breath and taking the opportunities we have and not forcing stuff.”
The Friday and Saturday District Tournament games will be played at Grand Junction Central High School, with the tournament champion earning an automatic bid to the 32-team 3A state playoffs. The remainder of the playoff spots will be determined by state rankings, with the Rams girls holding a No. 10 ranking coming into this week and the boys at No. 27.

Basalt’s Garcia wrestles at state
Basalt High School junior Emely Mejia Garcia won her opening round 100-pound match at the Girls State Wrestling Championships at Denver’s Ball Arena last weekend, pinning Jefferson’s Alicia Soto in 1 minute, 34 seconds. The quarterfinal match saw Eyvori Jacquez of Fountain take down Garcia in 1:29, and Garcia bowed out in the consolation round, falling to Coronado’s Gissell Gordon in 3:52.