Dakota Ridge girls basketball leans on defense in win over Golden

LITTLETON — Dakota Ridge’s girls basketball team deserves a bit of a break.

The Eagles completed back-to-back victories in less than 24 hours on their home court Wednesday with a 43-41 win over Golden. The victory gave Dakota Ridge (5-6, 2-0 in Class 5A/4A Jeffco League) its longest winning streak of the season at three games.

“I’m tired, but I’m used to it,” said Dakota Ridge point guard Maryn Talyat, who hardly left the court in both wins over Lakewood and Golden in back-to-back nights. “I’m excited for it.”

It was a tough conference test that was a back-and-forth battle for the entire game. The Demons (5-6, 0-1) took a 39-36 lead going into the final quarter when junior Kempley Wellman buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

However, Wellman suffered an apparent ankle injury early in the fourth quarter and didn’t return to the court. She finished with a dozen points all on four 3-pointers. Wellman’s offense was missed with Golden being held to just two points in the fourth quarter.

Junior Allie Neal had a team-high 16 points for the Demons, including 10 points in the third quarter where Golden outscored Dakota Ridge 15-7.

Dakota Ridge senior Hannah Galbreath, along with juniors Addyson Meeker and Kate Barbic all had a field goal in the fourth quarter to give the Eagles the lead. Talyat scored the final point with a free throw with 24 seconds remaining.

However, it was the Eagles’ defense that sealed the win. Talyat had three seals in the final minute, including one on the Demons’ final possession where they couldn’t get off a shot to either tie the game to send it into overtime or win the game with a 3-pointer.

“I knew if we got some steals that would win this game,” Talyat said. “This game meant at lot to us. We lost the first league game last year to Golden. We wanted to come through with a win.”

Talyat finished with 10 points and Galbreath had another impressive performance with a game-high 17 points. Galbreath was coming off a career-high 23 points the pervious night in the win over Lakewood.

“I’m not surprised at all. I believe in her fully,” Talyat said of Galbreath. “I think she is capable of what she does every single game. Twenty points is what I expect from her.”

Dakota Ridge will attempt to push its winning streak to four games when it travels to Conifer High School to face the Lobos (2-7, 0-2) at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12. Golden will try to get back in the win column with it hosts Littleton (5-6, 2-0) at 6 p.m. Friday.