NHS girls basketball picks up win at Fort Morgan

The Niwot High School girls basketball squad picked up a much-needed 67-35 victory over Fort Morgan High School on the road Jan. 18, dominating the game from start to finish. The victory gave the Cougars a 3-8 record on the season, and Niwot's first league victory over the winless Mustangs.

Senior Chloe Mitchell led the scoring, putting up 15 points on 6-11 shooting from the field. One of her field goals came from 3-point range, and she was 2-2 at the free throw line. Also scoring in double figures was junior Evelyn Melis with 11 points. Melis shot 4-6 from the field and was 3-4 at the charity stripe.

Junior Hadie Adams had seven points, while freshman Diya Mehta (6), junior Thalia Almaraz (6) and junior Rose Pacheco (6) also contributed to the offense. Junior Jiselle Sales led the team with nine rebounds, while Pacheco (8) and sophomore Payton Johnson (5) were also among the team leaders. Melis led the squad with four assists.

Saturday's game against Northridge High School was not as successful for the Cougars, as they lost 65-28. Northridge applied a full-court press, and the Cougars committed multiple turnovers. Northridge got off to an early lead on the strength of several 3-point field goals, and also dominated on the offensive boards. Meanwhile, the Cougars had trouble scoring without Pacheco and Melis, two of their leading scorers on the season, are no longer on the team. Adams, with seven points, was the only Cougar with more than four points in the game. Sales had seven rebounds to lead the team, while Johnson and junior Peyton Rhodes each picked up four.

The Cougars took on Mountain View at home on Monday, Jan. 22, in a game that was rescheduled after postponement due to weather a week earlier. Almaraz scored the first basket of the game, but Mountain View scored the next 10 points before Rhodes made a basket to bring the score to 10-4 in favor of the Mountain Lions. Sophomore guard Ella Zechman also scored a field goal in the first period for the Cougars, but the quarter ended with Mountain View ahead 17-6.

The same Cougars scored in the second quarter, and Sales (3) and Mitchell (2) also entered the scoring column, but the half ended with the Cougars down 42-16 as the Mountain Lions made several shots from beyond the arc.

The Cougars managed only 14 points in the second half and fell to Mountain View 67-30.