Hayden girls basketball faces losing streak

Hayden High School senior Caitlin Mahanna is bumped out of the way by Rangely's Audrey Hogan on Saturday morning as the Tigers lost for the second time in the district tournament. Despite finishing fourth in the eight-team field, Hayden advances to next week's regional tournament.

Tigers fall to Panthers, 47-36, for 3rd loss of season

By Joel Reichenberger

Sunday, March 1, 2009

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Game statistics

Rangely 47, Hayden 36

Rangely 14-12-6-15 - 47

Hayden 10-11-7-8 - 36

Rangely - Hogan 4 5-8 15, Phelan 6 0-0 12, Slagle 1 0-0 2, Piering 1 0-0 2, Hays 2 2-2 6, Wanstedt 0 1-5 1, Morton 2 5-8 9. Totals 16 13-23 47.

Hayden - Koehler 1 0-0 2, Salazar 7 4-5 18, Cromie 0 0-1 0, Mahanna 1 0-0 2, VeDepo 0 1-4 1, Rolando 0 2-2 2, Woodley 1 4-5 6, Sweetser 1 2-4 5. Totals 11 13-21 36

3-pointers - Rangely (2) - Hogan 2. Hayden (1) - Sweetser.

Hayden girls basketball, 2008-09

Dec. 2, Hayden 54, Vail Christian 23; (1-0, 1-0)
Dec. 4, Hayden 58, Grand Valley 33 at Meeker Tournament; (2-0, 1-0)
Dec. 5, Hayden 49, Rangely 40 at Meeker Tournament; (3-0, 1-0)
Dec. 6, Hayden 59, North Park 37 at Meeker Tournament; (4-0)
Dec. 12, Hayden 73, Soroco 42; (5-0)
Dec. 13, Hayden 62, Rangely 44; (6-0)
Dec. 20, Hayden 48, Snake River 38; (7-0)
Jan. 9, Hayden 68, West Grand 43; (8-0)
Jan. 10 Hayden 66, Plateau Valley 44; (9-0)
Jan. 20, Hayden 53, Meeker 42; (10-0)
Jan. 23, Paonia 54, Hayden 49;(10-1)
Jan. 27, Hayden 66, Baggs 51;(11-1)
Jan. 30, Hayden 48, North Park 37;(12-1)
Jan. 31, Hayden 45, Rangely 42;(13-1)
Feb. 6, Hayden 50, Meeker 47;(14-1)
Feb. 7, Hayden 59, Vail Christian 22;(15-1)
Feb. 13, Hayden 55, Soroco 39;(16-1)
Feb. 14, Hayden 48, North Park 41;(17-1)

It's a situation the Hayden girls basketball team hasn't seen all season, so there's no way to know how it will react.

For the record, the team is not in panic mode after enduring its first losing streak of the season.

Hayden lost Saturday, dropping its third game of the year just a day after it lost its second. The Tigers fell to Rangely, 47-36. Hayden's loss Friday came in its third run in against Meeker. Saturday's game against Rangely was the fourth time those two teams have met this season.

Familiarity certainly has bred competition.

"They're a good team," Hayden coach Eric Hamilton said about Rangely. "They've gotten better every time we've played them. We didn't play very well this weekend, but I thought we played hard today.

"We're still confident. We still want to get to (the state tournament in) Pueblo."

Swept away early in Friday's game, Hayden hung with Rangely throughout Saturday's contest. Still, the Tigers never could establish a lead.

Hayden's best chance came midway through the fourth quarter. Senior Kylee Sweetser made a free throw, then sophomore Kyra Rolando added two more. The gap was just one point, 32-31.

The Tigers scoring disappeared from that point, however, and they couldn't answer at all as Rangely began to extend the lead again.

Two minutes after Rolando brought her team within one, the Panthers had stretched the gap to double digits, 41-31.

Sweetser nailed a 3-pointer in the final minutes, but it didn't jump start the team, and Rangely closed the game out by making 8-of-12 free throws.

"We're disappointed, but still excited to go on to next week," senior Holli Salazar said. "We played some really lazy defense. We need to be better at that."

Hayden returns to action Friday night as it travels to Standley Lake High School in Westminster for the regional tournament.

The Tigers will face the champion of another district, but even after the disastrous weekend they retained some confidence.

"Seeing new teams will help," Salazar said. "These teams have had enough games to study everything we do."

Any turnaround will have to involve a renewed focus on offense.

Hayden's 43-point performance Friday night and 36-point game Saturday mark the two weakest offensive outputs the team has had all season.

Salazar led the way Saturday with 18 points on seven field goals. The rest of the squad made only four baskets.

It all was a far cry from the 56-point per game average the team carried into the postseason.

"Our shots just aren't falling," Salazar said. "We'll be good. We got our bad weekend over with, so we can start back over on Monday and get ready for a new weekend."

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