Sterling girls basketball ends season in state tournament
Sterling girls basketball may not have had the easiest ride through the regular season, but competing in a tough Patriot League earned the Tigers a spot in the Class 4A state tournament this week at the No. 23 seed.
On Tuesday, their season came to an end when they made the trip to No. 10 Lamar for the first round and couldn’t get the better of the Thunder in a 47-29 finish. The Tigers, who ended their season 9-15, couldn’t contain a team that had won 19 contests and lost just four going into the matchup.
Despite quite the slump to finish out the regular season — losing five straight contests to Resurrection Christian, University (twice), Berthoud and Limon — the ladies enjoyed a decent amount of success through one of 4A’s toughest basketball leagues.
Of the seven teams in the 4A Patriot League, only one didn’t make the postseason. University earned the No. 3 seed, Eaton took No. 6, Berthoud claimed No. 12, Resurrection Christian took No. 13, Sterling earned No. 23 and Valley was the 28 seed. The first four won their first-round games to advance to the Sweet 16.
The Tigers’ successes and setbacks seemed to come in waves, as an earlyseason, three-game losing streak gave way to two straight wins. Later on, they lost three before winning five of six.
Senior Jalyssa Maker very nearly averaged a double-double but fell short of double-digits in both meaningful categories, averaging 9.7 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game. Sophomore Tatym Dempcy (6.9 ppg, 7.8 rpg) nearly matched her production at the glass and in the nylon, while senior Charli Frankenfeld added 6.8 points per game of her own. The ladies, as a whole, excelled in thievery by averaging 9.3 steals per game.