Longmont girls basketball bests Niwot

After a disappointing 0-2 start to its season, the Niwot girls basketball team took a step in the right direction, but fell to the Longmont Trojans on Feb. 3, 45-33. Head coach Terri Ward blamed a poor first quarter in which the Cougars were outscored 14-1 for Niwot's eventual demise.

"You can't score one point (in a quarter) in a varsity game and expect to win," Ward said. "It's not going to do it."

Fortunately for Niwot, they settled in during the second quarter to claw back into the game. Junior Rachel Noble hit a three-pointer on Niwot's first possession of the quarter and junior Grace Crall's layup would later spark a 10-3 run. Longmont banked in a three to end the half and the Cougars still trailed, 24-17.

"I thought we fought back really well and did some really good things," Ward said.

Senior MacKenzie Demmel led the Cougars with a season-high eight points to go with seven rebounds. Niwot impressed on the boards as sophomore Addy Ruth brought down eight rebounds and Crall had seven.

Longmont sophomore Christine D'Epaginer didn't give Niwot many opportunities for rebounds as she blew past Niwot defenders to score 16 points.

In the third quarter, Longmont opened on a 10-1 run but Niwot bounced back with a 10-1 run of its own in the final three minutes. After a rough start to the game, Ward was pleased with Niwot's performance in the middle quarters.

"We finally chilled out and relaxed and we figured out how to play," Ward said. "We didn't force anything, we ran an offense (and) we got some really good looks out of our offense. If we can feel the second and third quarter like that all the time, we'll be fine."

Down the stretch, Niwot continued to stick around but missed several important free throws to seal their third consecutive loss to open the season.

Following the loss at Longmont, the Cougars returned to the court on Feb. 5 for a rematch against the Roosevelt Roughriders. Similar to their meeting on Jan. 26, Roosevelt got the best of Niwot, 73-18 to deliver the Cougars' fourth loss of the season.

Niwot's schedule didn't get any easier with a road matchup on Feb. 9 at Fort Morgan. They'll play another away game on Feb. 11 at 5 p.m. against Severance High School.