Niwot girls basketball drops first two Granite Peaks League games

After winning seven of its first eight nonconference games to begin the season, the Niwot High School girls basketball team was greeted by stiffer competition when the Cougars opened their Granite Peaks League slate on Jan. 7.

Niwot hosted Horizon High School and struggled on both ends of the court early, falling behind in the first quarter 25-3. The Cougars outscored the Hawks in the second half, 26-20, but ultimately dropped their league opener, 56-34. Freshman Alaina Loomis led the Cougars with 10 points and junior Ella Zechman followed with six.

Three days later on Jan. 10, Niwot welcomed league rival Longmont High School to its home gym. Unlike the Horizon game, the Cougars started strong and led 9-2 after the first quarter. However, defensive fouls and turnovers plagued Niwot thereafter in a 44-37 loss.

"They didn't do anything that surprised us," Niwot head coach Todd Trobaugh said of Longmont. "They were the team that we scouted. They just played better than we did. They executed. It wasn't a lot of exotic things going on out there for either team. They just played simple basketball better than we did."

Senior point guard Thalia Almaraz was Niwot's top offensive contributor against the Trojans, scoring a team-high 13 points. Senior Jiselle Sales and freshman Alexis Austefjord each scored eight points, senior Hadie Adams had six, and Loomis contributed two.

In the second half, Niwot's offense struggled to escape Longmont's full-court press and was forced into several turnovers.

"We got pressed against Horizon, and I told the girls the other day that we're going to continue to see the full-court press until we prove that we can beat the press," Trobaugh said. "You knew it was going to come at some point. We practiced it, and we just didn't execute. They executed, and credit to them."

Despite falling prey to Longmont's full-court press, Niwot made things interesting late in the game. The Cougars trailed by only three points with about two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before losing pace.

"My team never gives up," Niwot senior Madison Ackerman said. "I love playing with them because whenever we are losing or something, we keep fighting."

Trobaugh echoed Ackerman's sentiment.

"The kids still played hard," Trobaugh said. "We were not hitting on all cylinders, obviously, but they didn't give up. I saw a lot of good effort out there. Unfortunately, the fouls held us back a little bit. We've got to be able to adjust to adversity."

The following evening, Niwot returned to its winning ways with a 56-36 non-league victory at Brighton High School. The Cougars improved to 8-3 overall and 3-0 in true road games. Statistics for the game were not available at press time.

Three additional road games await the Cougars. They will visit Fairview High School on Jan. 14 and Skyline High School on Jan. 17 in Granite Peaks League matchups before traveling to Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs on Jan. 18.