Cougar Girls Basketball Misses Playoff Spot

The final two games for the Niwot High School girls basketball team were extremely important for their postseason hopes to come to fruition. They entered the week with a 13-8 record and a 5-7 record in the Northern conference.

Unfortunately they dropped both games in their final week, one to Centaurus 57-34 and the final game to Northridge 43-36.

After the loss to Centaurus, Niwot Head Coach Terri Ward knew that her team’s playoff aspirations had all but come to an end.

“Bottom line, we had to win these last two games to have a shot,” Ward said after the loss last Wednesday. “It doesn’t help when you can’t make a basket. We had open shots and couldn’t make them.”

Before the season, Ward had put a goal of finishing with a winning record out there for her team and they were able to accomplish that. After starting the season with six straight wins though, Ward was a little disappointed with their final record.

“Our goal was 13-10 for the season, which we were able to accomplish, but not in the way we wanted to,” Ward said.

Moving forward the future still looks bright for this young Niwot team. While they will be losing their starting center and power forward in seniors Alyssa Jenkins and Keena Strope, as well as defensive stalwart Emily Mercier, they will be returning many key players. Jenkins went out on top, leading the Cougars in scoring with 14 against Northridge.

Junior YY Chen will be returning with more experience and hunger for the post season, and sophomores Sophie Grant, Mary Gillett, Alli Mercier and Rosie Setter all played significant time for the Cougars this year. Grant and Setter led the scoring in the loss to Centaurus with nine points each.

Though the disappointment of not making the playoffs is still fresh in their minds, there is a lot of positive growth for the program heading into the future.

“We are growing and growing, and getting hopefully better and better,” Ward said.

As it turned out, when the dust settled, only the top three teams from the Northern Conference were awarded playoff spots (Longmont 22-1, Centaurus 20-3, and Silver Creek 12-11). Thompson Valley finished fourth in the conference at 7-7, but with an overall record of 7-16, was not deemed worthy of the playoffs. Greeley Central finished fifth at 13-10 and was also left out, with one more conference win than the Cougars.

Niwot 3 7 11 13 – 34

Centaurus 13 16 15 13 – 57

Niwot: Zoe Gonzales 1 2-3 4, Alli Mercier 0 0-2 0, Rosie Setter 4 1-3 9, Emily Mercier 1 2-2 4, YingYing Chen 1 0-0 2, Mary Gillett 0 4-4 4, Alyssa Jenkins 1 0-0 2, Keena Strope 0 0-0 0, Sophie Grant 2 5-8 9. Totals 10 14-22 34.

3-point field goals – Niwot: Chen 0-5

Total fouls – Niwot: 14, Centaurus: 19.

Niwot 7 8 6 15 – 36

Northridge 14 5 14 10 – 43

Niwot: Zoe Gonzales 1 0-0 2, Alli Mercier 0 0-1 0, Rosie Setter 0 1-2 1, Emily Mercier 1 0-0 2, YingYing Chen 2 5-6 9, Mary Gillett 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Jenkins 4 6-7 14, Keena Strope 1 2-2 4, Sophie Grant 1 0-0 2, Liz Allen 1 0-0 2. Totals 11 14-18 36.

Total fouls – Niwot: 17, Northridge: 17.