Steamboat Pilot & Today

The Soroco boys basketball team improved to 2-2 on the season with a victory at South Park on Saturday, while the Lady Rams dropped to 3-2 after splitting two games Thursday and Saturday.

The Soroco girls defeated South Park on Saturday, 54-36, making up for the 52-43 loss the team suffered at Little Snake River in Baggs, Wyo., Thursday.

"We always have a tough time playing up there," Rams coach Bob Johnson said.

In the Baggs game, the visiting Soroco team shot just nine free throws, compared with the 30 free throws the home team shot. The 13-point differential between the free throws made -- five for Soroco and 18 for Baggs -- more than made up for the nine-point difference in the final score.

"They called the game pretty close," Johnson said.

Senior Hallie Shiner was the Rams' leading scorer with 13 points. Senior Allegra Bonfiglio and junior Paige Iacovetto each had eight points for the Rams.

The Soroco girls rebounded in their Saturday game against South Park, winning decisively.

"We hit the basket pretty good," Johnson said. "I had quite a few girls who scored, and we had quite a few steals."

Iacovetto scored a team-high 11 points in the lopsided win, while junior Leslie Koler had 10 points.

The Soroco boys enjoyed similar success against South Park on Saturday. The South Park School District was struck particularly hard by the flu, which may have played a factor in the Rams' 54-30 win, Soroco coach Andy Smith said.

Rams junior Tony Iacovetto had 21 points in limited action, while senior C.J. Remick pulled down a team-high seven rebounds in limited play as well.

"It was a good game to work on some things and get some bench people some time," Smith said. "It was a tough game for them because they didn't have all their players. My starters didn't play that much."

Despite the one-sided nature of the game, Smith said he was pleased with what he saw from the Rams. The team had put some new twists in on offense, and with the sizeable lead, it was able to work on running the new plays.

The Soroco boys return to action Thursday against Little Snake River. Then, the Soroco boys and girls host North Park on Friday in each team's only home game until Jan. 16.

The North Park girls are the runaway favorite to win the Western Slope title and return to the state championship game, while the North Park boys will figure into the league mix with Rangely.

Friday's games will be the final action for the Rams' squads until after the holiday break.

"I want to play two great games this weekend and go into the break with two great games under our belt," Smith said.

The varsity girls are scheduled to play North Park at 3:30 p.m. Tip-off for the boys game is scheduled for 5 p.m. The JV teams will play at 2 p.m.

-To reach Melinda Mawdsley call 871-4208

or e-mail mmawdsley@steamboatpilot.com