Delta coaches Luis Meza, center, and Clayton Curtis congratulate 152-pound senior Hunter Brasfield after an upset win sent him into the 4A Region 4 semifinals.
Hotchkiss senior Joe Boyle controls Ruben Chagoya of Basalt to win a 3A Region 1 title. He is one of 7 Hotchkiss state qualifiers.
Hotchkiss and Paonia boys will square off this week on the basketball courts. Both are 6-4 in league play.
Delta senior Brooke Taylor scores two of her 12 points against Summit after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Paonia 195-pounder Tyler “TK” Kendall sets Rangely’s Drew Collins up for a pin.
Paonia freshman Bo Pipher sets TJ Richard of North Park up for a pin in Saturday’s regional semifinal round. He is one of 13 Paonia wrestlers headed to state!
Surrounded by coaches and his dad, Conner Beard signs Letter of Intent to play football for the University of Nebraska Kearney.
Hotchkiss' Jacobe Galley signed a Letter of Intent to play football and study engineering at Colorado Mesa University.
Hotchkiss senior Cody Bartlett signed his National Letter of Intent to run cross-country for Hawaii Pacific University.
Photo by Wayne Crick Delta senior Patti Chapman (23) shoots a layup against Palisade’s Casey Brown. The Lady Panthers were not to be denied last Tuesday (Jan. 22) and recorded a 55-33 victory in 4A WSL play. Delta won two more games to up its win streak to ten.An 0-3 start to the 2012-13 basketball campaign has not deterred the Delta Lady Panthers in their quest for a second straight 4A WSL title. Since those three opening losses, Delta has gone on a 10-0 winning streak which includes last week's wins over Palisade (55-33), Rifle (49-44), and Battle Mountain (82-25).
Delta leads the 4A WSL with a league mark of 8-0 and is 10-3 overall.
The Lady Panthers are scoring at a 61.3 clip per game and giving up a mere 25.4 points per game. Seniors Skylyn Webb and Callie Gafford are averaging 23 and 17.5 points per game, respectively, after last week's trio of victories.
Delta 55, Palisade 33
A visit from the 4A WSL's number five team, Palisade, resulted in a solid victory for the Lady Panthers.
Callie Gafford's six points in the first period and 10 points from Webb in the second stanza lifted Delta to a 27-17 halftime lead.
The Panthers' defense stymied Palisade in the third quarter allowing just four points for the visitors while the offense scored 10 points.
Gafford duplicated her third-quarter scoring output (six) points to lead Delta to the 22-point win against the Lady Bulldogs (5-3, 6-7).
Gafford paced Delta's offense with 22 points and Webb followed with 17. Jenna Brown scored 12 to lead Palisade scorers.
Delta 49, Rifle 44
For the second straight week, Rifle (5-3, 7-5) played the Lady Panthers down to the wire last Friday night. A previous meeting, Jan. 18, was a 47-41 victory for Delta.
Friday's match-up was just as close, as the hustling Lady Bears stayed close throughout the contest. Both teams scored seven points in the first period and Delta was outscored by the Lady Bears, 16-15, to trail at the break, 23-22.
A mini-burst in the third quarter gave Delta a cushion that would be the difference in the game. The Lady Panthers won the quarter by a 10-5 count.
A torrid shooting battle between Webb and Rifle's Chante Church entertained fans in fourth-quarter play. Webb ripped the net for 13 points while Church canned 11 for the Lady Bears. Delta won the quarter, 17-16, to post the final score of 49-44.
Webb finished with 27 points for Delta while Church funneled 25 counters through the nets for Rifle.
Delta 82, BM 25
Delta controlled the game from the start with a 27-2 run in the first quarter. Webb's 11 points and Shelby Curtis' six paved the way for a strong run.
Battle Mountain (2-6, 2-11) had no answers for the potent Lady Panthers' inside offensive game as Gafford dumped in 24 points (10 coming in the third quarter) from her low post position. Webb scored in every quarter, as did Gafford, and finished with 28 points. Brittanny Brasfield had one of her best games of the season for Delta as she scored 12 points.
Taylor Davidson had 10 points to lead Battle Mountain's offense.
The Lady Panthers are on the road again for monster road trips this weekend. First up is Battle Mountain at Edwards on Friday, Feb. 1. That contest is slated to start at 6 p.m.
On Saturday, after an overnight stay in motel accommodations, the Lady Panthers are scheduled to face Eagle Valley (6-1, 9-3) in Gypsum. That game is set for 12:30 p.m.
