Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Soroco High School girls basketball team is feeling pretty darn good.

Don’t blame them.

The Rams weren’t supposed to be here.

With a 59-28 win Tuesday against Vail Christian, Soroco improved to 12-5 on the season.

And who would have thought?

It’s an old story, but the Rams lost nearly 70 percent of their scoring and were pegged as a middling team.

But Soroco has played hard, one thing coach David Bruner always emphasizes.

“Like I’ve told the girls all the time,” Bruner said. “We won 12 games last year. We were 12-8. Hey, we’re not an upper-echelon team, but we’d love to play Hotchkiss or Rangely again."

For those who don’t follow 2A girls basketball, Hotchkiss and Rangely — along with Paonia and Meeker— are the four best teams in the league.

On Tuesday, however, the Rams used a big second quarter and a better third quarter to break things open.

Tied at 14 after one quarter, Soroco ran Vail Christian out of the gym. The Rams led 34-15 at half and shot 44 percent from the field in the first three quarters.

“I thought our first three quarters were the best three quarters we’ve played all year,” Bruner said.

Briana Peterson scored 22 points, and Jessica Rossi added 15. Mackenzie Carnahan had a good game with eight points off the bench.

But the question remains. How good are these Rams?

They play Plateau Valley at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at home. The team closes out the regular season with with a 7 p.m. game at Hayden on Feb. 22.

The Rams have proved they are good enough to beat the meddling teams in the league.

Are they good enough — come district playoff time — to beat the best?

“Sure there are teams that don’t want to play us,” Bruner said. “Hotchkiss and Rangely might be nervous about playing us again. We’ve won three in a row. The girls are bringing it. They’re shooting the ball well. We’re getting our legs under us.”

To reach Luke Graham, call 970-871-4229 or email lgraham@SteamboatToday.com