Strong start lifts Arvada West girls hoops over Columbine
ARVADA — Arvada West’s girls basketball team nearly set a new season-high point total Monday night.
The Wildcats (8-12, 4-7 in Class 5A Jeffco) held a 44-24 lead through three quarters on their home court against Columbine (9-11, 3-8).
“The first three quarters I was really happy with how we played,” A-West coach Don Wahl said. “We’ve been working really hard on some things in practice and it’s really showing up in games.”
A-West came up a little short of reaching its season-high total of 54 points, but the Wildcats wouldn’t complain about their 50-38 victory.
“We need wins right now,” Wahl said. “There is no win that is disappointing.”
A-West sophomore Madison Pixler led the way with 16 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter when the Wildcats extended their lead to as many as 21 points. Sophomore Gabby Riser had eight points off the bench, including a pair of 3-pointers.
“Arvada West shot well, which I didn’t expect,” Columbine coach Shannon Vigil said. “I think that was one of their better shooting games, kudos to them.”
Junior Ksana Montoya scored six straight points for A-West to begin the third quarter. She dominated the offensive boards in the first few minutes of the second half that led to all six points.
Columbine finally got things going in the fourth quarter offensively. Sophomore Ellie Barrows scored all of her nine points in the fourth quarter, including two 3-pointers. Junior Skylar Alward also finished with nine points in the loss.
The Rebels has gone through a lot of injury hardship this season, namely losing sophomore Maura Singer to a knee injury. The Rebels’ post player was averaging 13.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.2 steals through five games before the season-ending injury.
Starters — freshman Quincey Baum and sophomore Whitney Block — have also missed time, but Vigil expects both to be back on the court for the final week of the regular season next week.
“I think you take away those injuries and it’s a totally different season for us,” Vigil said. “The injuries have been hard, but that’s no excuse.”
The new postseason format system takes the top 48 teams in the RPI rankings to fill the 48-team bracket. The formula takes in account winning percentage, opponents’ winning percentage and opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage.
Playing teams with winning records — Bear Creek (13-6, 7-3) and Ralston Valley (17-1, 10-0) — during the final stretch of the regular season should help Columbine. The Rebels were 42nd in RPI before Monday’s game. Columbine closes out the regular season at Chatfield (6-13, 0-10) on Saturday, Feb. 18.
A-West defeated the Rebels in their first league meeting 44-29 on Jan. 18, but then lost four straight conference games. A-West did end its longest losing streak of the season last Friday night with a 38-27 win over Chatfield.
The Chargers are actually the only 5A Jeffco team below the 48-team threshold. Chatfield sat in the 49th spot to begin the week.
“We know where it (RPI) is at and what we need to do,” Wahl said. “Hopefully we can get to one of those playoff spots. That’s really the goal right now.”
A-West will get an RPI boost facing Lakewood (13-5, 8-2) and Ralston Valley. The Wildcats next host Lakewood at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8.
“We are playing some tough teams, but I’ve got confidence we can knock down shots when it’s important,” A-West senior captain Ellie Mills said.
Brackets for the 48-team 5A state tournament are scheduled to be released Sunday, Feb. 19, with first-round games being played Tuesday, Feb. 21. The top 16 seeded teams receive a first-round bye and won’t play until Friday, Feb. 24 in the round of 32.
