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 Brooke Taylor scores two of her 12 points against Summit after grabbing an offensive rebound. Watching the play is Callie Gafford (40). Summit’s Michelle Frias (14) and Kardina Kincenaite (35) defend.For the second straight year, Delta High School's Lady Panther basketball team has established new school records. Last year's 20-5 season included a trip to the round of 16.
All the Lady Panthers have done this season is win the 4A league title for the third straight year.
Only this year, Delta is the sole holder of that title. No team was closer than three games when the final standings were posted.
And, for the first time in school history, Delta rolled through league play with a perfect 14-0 record. Delta's 16-game winning streak ranks in the top three for 4A schools.
Delta knocked off Summit, 94-21, on Friday and steamed past Palisade 49-30 on Saturday.
Delta 94, Summit 21
Delta scored a season-high 94 points against the visiting Tigers from Summit High School in Frisco.
Skylyn Webb and Callie Gafford combined for enough points in the first quarter to outscore Summit by themselves. Webb pumped in 14 points and Gafford added 10 as Delta raced to a 26-2 lead after eight minutes of play.
Brooke Taylor and Erin Zunich scored six points each in the second quarter helping the Lady Panthers to a 28-4 run and a halftime lead of 54-6.
An eight-point third period for Webb and eight from Gafford in the fourth helped Delta outscore the Tigers 40-15 in the second half.
Webb finished the game with 28 points and Gafford had 23 to lead Delta's offense. Taylor finished with 12 counters giving Delta three players in double figures.
Delta 49, Palisade 30
Against the Lady Bulldogs, Delta opened up as much as a 27-point lead at one time in the second half of play. Game speed was at a crawl in the early going. Delta escaped the first quarter with an 8-2 lead but had stretched its margin to 24-10 by halftime.
Gafford sparked the scoring for Delta in the first quarter with six points and then added another six in the second frame as did Webb. Patti Chapman kept Delta's offense sharp in the third quarter with eight points to help the Lady Panthers cruise to their sixteenth win of the season.
Delta's leading scorer was Gafford with 16 while Webb and Chapman added double-digit support with 15 and 10 points respectively. Jenna Brown and Aspen Guray had eight points each to lead Palisade.
Up next for the Lady Panthers is the district tournament that includes SWL teams Montrose, Durango, and Cortez. Tourney action began Tuesday, Feb. 19, with pigtail games for lower-seeded teams.
Delta, based on its first-place finish in league standings, drew a bye into Thursday's round of play at CMU. With Montrose being dumped into the tournament, the Lady Panthers are relegated to the number two seed in this year's tournament and Montrose eases into the playoffs as the number one seed.
Delta's opponent is not known at this time. Seven teams will advance to the 4A state playoffs with regional action beginning the following week.
To open tournament play, Delta will take on either the seventh or tenth seed on Thursday at 3 p.m. at Brownson Arena on the campus of CMU.
Montrose, 8-2 in the SWL and 15-4 overall, will face either the eight or nine seed on Thursday at 6 p.m. at CMU.
The Lady Panthers are assured of advancing to the state tournament after winning the 4A WSL. By winning the tournament, Delta will have home-court advantage to begin regional play.
