Sophomores shine for Golden girls basketball in opening win over Lakewood

GOLDEN — Golden girls basketball team started its 2024-25 campaign with an 11-game winning streak a season ago.

The Demons got off on the right foot again Tuesday night with a 46-27 home victory against Lakewood. 

“It started a little rough, but I thought we settled in,” Golden coach Tanner Hobbs said of the Demons’ 19-point victory against the Tigers. “It’s a young team with a lot of young kids coming together. I think we got a lot better tonight.”

It was a close game through the first half. Golden held a slim 14-13 lead, but the Demons took over in the second half. Golden went on a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter and took its first double-digit lead of the game when sophomore Maddie Perlman drained a 3-pointer with 5:30 left in the fourth quarter.

Perlman had just two points at halftime, but finished with a game-high 18 points.

“That is all her. She has that mentality,” Hobbs said of Perlman draining four 3-pointers in the second half. “Maddie is a gamer and when she gets hot, she is hot. She knows we have all the confidence in her to shoot. We are going to lean on her for buckets this year.”

Fellow sophomore Amelia Melcher also finished in double-digits with 10 points. Junior Reegan Bride chipped in 8 points, while senior Ashlyn Bates had 5 points in the win.

Hobbs is able to put Bates back at the point guard position for the Demons this season.

“Ashlyn is an awesome kid. A great leader,” Hobbs said of last year’s second-leading scorer on the team averaging 11.6 points per game and the Demons’ leading rebounder a year ago grabbing 7.2 boards per game. “I’m so happy to have her back at point guard. She does a little bit of everything for us.”

Golden finished last season with a 20-4 record while finishing third in the 5A/4A/3A Jeffco League standings behind Green Mountain and Standley Lake.

“Our goal is to compete with teams like that,” Hobbs said of facing the likes of Green Mountain and Standley Lake in conference play. “There is so much talent in this group. We can definitely get there. We expect a lot of out them, but they rise to the challenge.”

Lakewood is coming off a 6-17 record last season. Longtime coach Chris Poisson doesn’t have a senior on his squad this season.

Sophomore Saylor Slaughter led the Tigers with 13 points in the loss to Golden. Junior Iben Last had 10 points in the opener for Lakewood.