Niwot girls basketball on the cusp of reaching state tournament

Despite a challenging past month-plus of Granite Peaks League play, the Niwot High School girls basketball team remains within striking distance of its first state tournament berth since 2013-14.

As of Feb. 16, the Cougars are 10-12 overall (2-10 Granite Peaks League) and ranked No. 33 in the Class 5A Colorado High School Activities Association Selection & Seeding Index. The top 40 teams will qualify for the single-elimination state tournament, up from 32 teams last year.

Niwot's regular season finale is set for Tuesday, Feb. 18 at Erie High School.

On Thursday, Feb. 13, the Cougars visited Frederick High School in their penultimate regular season game and lost 65-37. Niwot head coach Todd Trobaugh said his team still showed great fight against a strong Golden Eagles team.

"Our kids played hard, they played tough, and they never quit," Trobaugh said. "It was the same thing that has bothered us the whole league season: we've got to shoot better. We have got to find ways to score. We can play tough defense and we can be aggressive and run up and down with teams, but until we can start scoring with teams, it's going to be hard to compete with the top five or six, seven teams in the league."

Freshman Alaina Loomis led the Cougars with 11 points, senior Thalia Almaraz had nine, and senior Hadie Adams contributed five.

Peyton Rhodes was held scoreless, but the Niwot senior left her mark on the game with a team-high five rebounds. After the loss, Trobaugh spoke of Rhodes' widespread impact on the resurgent Cougars.

"She's done everything we could have wanted her to do and more," Trobaugh said. "I'm beyond thrilled with what she's done off the court as a leader and on the court and in the locker room with the young kids. She's been everywhere. She's been a super leader, and I couldn't be more pleased with the way she stepped up."

Other Cougars who contributed at Frederick include freshman Alexis Austefjord (three points, four rebounds, two steals), senior Jiselle Sales (two points, three rebounds), junior Ella Zechman (three points, two steals), and junior Cyrena Allen (four points).

While Niwot couldn't steal a win at Frederick, the Cougars' 10 wins on the season mark the program's most since 2016-17 when they finished 11-12.

"That was our initial goal for the team, was to get to 10 wins," Trobaugh said. "Now, if you told me how we were going to get there the way we did it, I wouldn't have believed you. But we hung in there and I'm very proud of them."