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Hayden — Maybe the girls on the Hayden basketball team should've opted to play Meeker away. Looking ahead to a long drive home from Kremmling on Thursday, Hayden coach Stephanie Davis said her team put together "a terrific team effort" to down West Grand, 50-29.

Hayden could not replicate the same well-rounded and effective scoring on Friday against Meeker (6-7 overall). They fell to the Cowboys, 61-37.

But Davis was not disappointed in her team's effort.

"I think the girls played well and did everything I asked of them," Davis said. "Our shooting just went really cold, we fouled a lot and they hit their free throws and we didn't shoot well from the line."

Meeker opened with a three-pointer from Marki Cook and jumped out to an early 8-0 lead. Hayden failed to convert easy looks early on. Down by six, Jeni Medvesk made a steal and found Emily Whiteman for a basket, who scored 6 of her team-leading 15 points in the first half. Lauren Frentress nailed a basket to cut the Meeker lead to two, but that was as close as Hayden got.

Hayden began winning the rebound battle in the second quarter behind Whiteman and Kylee Sweetser, who led the Tigers with 7 and 6 boards, respectively. The rebounds failed to translate into scoring opportunities.

The Tigers held the Cowboys two lead scorers, Sydney and Marki Cook to only three field goals in the first half. But as Meeker increased the physical play in the second half, winning the rebounds and loose balls, they created plenty of easy scoring opportunities in transition.

"We weren't finishing our defense in the first half," Hallie Blunt said. "But (in the second half) we really stopped their second chances."

Down 13 in the fourth quarter, Hayden began forcing shots and could no longer keep up with the two Cooks, who combined for 32 points. Marki buried her third three-pointer of the game with two minutes left to put Hayden out of reach.

The Hayden girls are now 5-4 and, play North Park next at 7 p.m., on Friday.

- To reach Dave Shively, call 871-4253

or e-mail dshively@steamboatpilot.com