The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate basketball team will host first-round playoff action Friday evening after nabbing the No. 7 spot on the 32-team playoff bracket.
The Lady Pirates secured the No. 7 playoff spot with a March 1 win over the Bayfield Wolverines.
The Lady Pirates held the Wolverines to single digits in all four quarters on March 1, outscoring their visitors 11-6 in the first, 14-4 in the second, 11-7 in the third and 21-9 in the fourth to log the 57-26 win.
“I thought it was a good way to end our regular season and senior night with a win against [Bayfield],” coach Sarah Osborn wrote in an email to The SUN. “Pagosa and [Bayfield] rivalry goes way back and no matter what it always feels good to get a win against [Bayfield].”
Eight Lady Pirates scored in the matchup, led by Elizabeth Currier’s 19 points, which included two 3-pointers.
Kaila Limebrook and Karsyn Shahan each put up nine points, with Shahan landing one 3-pointer.
Adelyn Hittle notched eight points, and Kylie Ketchum and Victoria Currier each had four. Lexi Campbell and Amber Snarr tallied two each.
The team made 12 of 17 free-throw attempts.
Shahan led the team in rebounding with eight, followed by Lexi Campbell with six. Limebrook, Hittle and Snarr pulled down five each. Elizabeth Currier notched four, Ketchum tallied three, and Charity Domingo and Victoria Currier had one each.
The team picked up 13 steals and turned the ball over nine times.
“It was a fun and emotional game,” Osborn wrote of it also being the night the team honored its seniors. “Our seniors have given so much to this program and it always feels good to get them the recognition they deserve but on the other hand when they are gone the juniors and other girls will have huge shoes to fill. I am beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to coach those three for so long and we are going to miss them next year.”
But, Osborn acknowledges, the team isn’t done.
“With all that being said,” she adds, “we aren’t done yet this year, we are practicing hard and going back to the fundamentals and details in order to go into our post season playing our best basketball.”
As the No. 7 seed, the Lady Pirates will welcome the No. 26 Fort Morgan Mustangs to town for a 5:30 p.m. game on Friday, March 7.
The Mustangs are 8-15 on the season.
Pagosa Springs High School will also be the site of the matchup between the No. 10 Lamar Thunder and No. 23 DSST: Montview Knights at 7 p.m. on Friday.
The Thunder are 18-5 on the season, while the Knights own a 15-7 record.
The winners of Friday’s games will advance to Saturday’s Sweet 16 matchup, which is set for a 1 p.m. tip-off at Pagosa Springs High School.
“We won’t over look anyone,” Osborn wrote, adding, “every team has something to prove in post season, but our girls and hungry and determined to find themselves back at state.”
randi@pagosasun.com
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