Advance to Regionals this weekend
by David J. Santistevan, Jr.
LA JUNTA — Cinderella has advanced to Colorado Class 2A Girls High School Regionals in the team of the #6 seed Hoehne Lady Farmers (12-11) who beat #4 seeded Las Animas Lady Trojans (9-13) 50-38 to finish in third place in the Class 2A District-6 playoffs. This will be Hoehne’s second straight appearance in Regionals.
“I am very proud of the girls, battling back to finish third in the district tournament. They came from behind in the fourth against Las Animas and that shows the heart of our team,” Hoehne Lady Farmer Head Coach Ryan Coberly said. “We started slow, both in the district semi-finals and in the third place games, but we fought all the way. The team shot the ball much better against Las Animas last Friday than we did against Fowler the day before. We are playing together at the right time. We are proud of our girls.”
The Lady Farmers were led by senior Shaelyn Walton who scored a game high 22 points, had fours steals, and grabbed nine rebounds. Junior Kamryn Baca-Cordova added 20 points on eight of 13 shooting, to go along with six boards and three steals. Hoehne’s defense held Las Animas to just 33% shooting in the game and Hoehne caused 15 Lady Trojan turnovers.
This year Hoehne’s girls are averaging just under 40.0 PPG; as a team they are bringing down nearly 20 RPG, and averaging six steals per contest. Walton is averaging 19.1 PPG and 6.7 RPG. Sophomore Averie Naverette scored 12 points in a district semi-final loss to Fowler. She is averaging about seven PPG and is starting to play well. Baca-Cordova averages seven PPG, 2.9 steals and 4.4 rebounds per game.
Limon comes into Regionals as the #3 seeded team. They are 20-1, their only loss to long-time rival Simla (20-1) on the road, 50-40. Limon averages 50 PPG, 14.5 assists a contest, and 21.3 team steals a game. Only one player from Limon averages over 10 PPG. They shoot about 41% a team and about 52% from the free-throw line.
Coberly ended by saying, “Limon is a nice bunch; a good team. They are big and they shoot the ball well. If our girls can handle their pressure and if we shoot the ball well, we will be successful. Again, we are playing our best team basketball at the right time of the year. We are happy to be back playing at regionals for the second year in a row, but don’t count us content with that.”
The Lady Farmers will travel to Limon to face the Lady Badgers this coming Friday night, March 2. Tip off is slated for 7 pm. The winner will advance to take on the winner of #14 seed Soroco (17-5) vs. #19 seed Burlington (13-9) game in the Class 2AA Region 3 championship game to earn a berth in the Elite 8 Colorado State Girls Basketball Championships next weekend.
Hoehne 02 20 14 14 50
Las Animas 06 14 06 12 38
