The Jeffco League second place Lakewood girls were at Ralston Valley High School Friday night to face the 1st place (10-0 in league play) Ralston Valley Lady Mustangs in this conference match up.  I was excited to finally get to see the Lady Mustangs, who have got to be the best high school girls team I have ever seen, play another good team.  Lakewood was coming into the game with a 9-1 record in league play.

I was very disappointed in what took place in the game.  Ralston Valley played a great game.  They played their game.  But Lakewood, I do not understand how this team had a record of 9-1 coming into this game.  In the first period Ralston Valley outscored the visiting Lady Tigers by 5 points, 14-9.  Now that is not a bad first quarter for Lakewood, but things just got worse for Lakewood.

Before I get to the second quarter, the photo above of one of the Lakewood guards passing the ball is one of my most favorite shots of the basketball season so far.  Boys or girls, high school or college.  I remember way back getting a NBA basketball card of Gary Payton passing the ball and it was just so cool.  I have been striving ever since to get a great pass shot, but I never could get the ball just right, and was never close enough to capture the feeling.  But with this shot, I am close.  I love passes.  I love the lob, the no look touch pass, the behind the back Magic Johnson showtime pass, but I have just not been able to get a good pass shot.  This shot, is a basic 2 handed chest pass, but the passer is full in frame, has a intense look on her face, the ball is in frame, and you can tell what is going on.  I am real happy with it.

Back to the game.  In the second period, the Lakewood girls started to get frustrated.  There was a lot of pushing and shoving, dirty looks, but it did not help as the Lady Mustangs continued where they left off in the first quart, out scoring the Lady Tigers 20 to 4 in the second frame, taking a 34 to 13 lead into the half.

 

 

So, in the first half, Lakewood was just no match for Ralston Valley.  They did not look like a 9-1 team, and I was really disappointed in the game.  I was glad to see the Mustangs play good, but I really like shoot a game.

In the third it just got ugly.  Lakewood could only put up 2 points against Ralston Valley, and the Lady Mustangs only added 3 points to their score.  What’s up with that?  3 points?  You just came off of a 20 point quarter and a 34 point first half and only score 3 points?  That was because Lakewood lost it.  They were playing rough and hopefully things would calm down for the 4th quarter.

Ralston Valley held a 37 to 15 lead going into the final frame.  If Lakewood had any chance of pulling off a victory, they were going to have to make up a 22 point deficit that the Lady Mustangs had handed them in the first three quarters.  Not only would they have to score at least 22 more than the Mustangs in the 4th, they were going to have to play good defense and keep the Mustangs scoring to a minimum.

And it would not happen.  Lakewood would win the quarter, scoring 17 points, not enough to even tie the game, and to make things worse for the visiting Lakewood team, the Lady Mustangs would add another 12 points to their score to take the win 49 to 32.

 

Ralston Valley has moved to 11-0 in league play and 16-2 overall, and are ranked 10th in the state and 8th in 5A basketball for Colorado.  Lakewood fell to 9-2 and 14-4 overall, ranked 27th in the state.  To view and purchase photos from this game, please visit this Maxpreps gallery.