Farmers play host to Sierra Grande

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MONTE VISTA— On Friday night the Sierra Grande Panthers headed west to face the Sargent Farmers.

Last week Sierra Grande was in Mosca playing in the Thunderbird shootout while Sargent traveled south to participate in the Mountain Top tournament. The Sierra Grande girls fell to the eventual runner-up Antonito on the first day but they made up for it by battling back and taking a fifth place finish over Centennial two days later. Sargent had a similar weekend falling to tournament champs Centauri on the first day then redeeming themselves with a fifth place finish over Basalt on the third.

 

Girls

On Friday the girls were evenly matched and traded blows as such with the first half being a game of call and answer. At the half only two points separated Sierra Grande and Sargent. Late in the third it began to look like the Panthers and Farmers would need extra time to decide a winner with a 22-all game. For the next three minutes Sierra Grande pulled away heating up on an unanswered ten-point rally. But Sargent answered right back with a 10-2 point run of their own to make it just a two-point game again with a minute in a half to play.

Sargent would not score again in the final ninety seconds for a Sierra Grande win 39-32. Junior Abby Corona paced the Panthers with 13 points going four of nine from the field. Corona was followed by Nina Vigil, who had herself a nice game as well with 12 points. Vigil came up two steals and a rebound short of a triple double. Sargent was led by McKinzie Tolliver who produced 12 points on the night.

 

Boys

The boys took part in the same tournaments with Sierra Grande’s boys taking a second place finish falling to Creede in the Thunderbird Shootout while Sargent defeated Basalt to take fifth in La Jara the week prior.

Against one another Sierra Grande found the early success. Sargent however continued to attempt low percentage shots to no avail. As a team the Farmers had attempted 20 three-point shots and hit on just 20 percent of them. Despite this the Farmers still led at the half 21-20.

In the second half Sargent made the necessary corrections cutting their three point attempts in half and boosting their shooting clip to 44 percent. The Farmers would open up an 11-point lead in the third quarter. In the fourth Sierra Grande would close the game to within two with less than a minute to play.

Sierra Grande turned the ball over and had to foul putting themselves further away when Ryan Davis made it 51-47 hitting one of two from the free throw line. With the final second ticking away Arthur Rodriguez got fouled and was able to make it a three-point game with a fraction of a second to play. Firing the ensuing inbound from 25 feet Rodriguez was unable to tie the game but he did lead the Panthers with 22 points going 50 percent from the field.

Blaine Behil led the Farmers with 16 points hitting on 44 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.