{"id":107859,"date":"2015-12-06T19:41:10","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T02:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-win-meeker-tournament\/"},"modified":"2015-12-06T19:41:10","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T02:41:10","slug":"panthers-win-meeker-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-win-meeker-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers win Meeker Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The M-CHS girls basketball team poses after winning the Meeker Tournament on Saturday. The Panthers are now 3-0 on the season.<\/span>Courtesy photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Montezuma-Cortez girls basketball team rattled off three consecutive wins to start the season.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Panthers traveled to the Meeker Tournament and opened with a 37-27 victory over Rangely.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting off a long six-hour bus ride, we were a little flat,\u201d explained head coach John McHenry. \u201cThe gym was a little dark and our shots were off, so we were having to rely on our defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

But after a slow start, the Panthers loosened up and shots began to fall as they pulled away for a 10-point win.<\/p>\n

Kelsie Ralstin led the team with 13 points, Kiselya Plewe added nine, and Simone Lopez and Abri Conklin chipped in five a piece.<\/p>\n

Coach McHenry said that the team\u2019s second game of the tournament, against Soroco, was probably its toughest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an intense game,\u201d he said. \u201cSoroco had a couple of pretty good scorers, and we just battled back-and-forth. And as much as we pressed, they pressed back. But I was pleased with how we broke the press.\u201d<\/p>\n

McHenry noted how the up-tempo game was beneficial because it helped the team learn to stay under control offensively, and that he expects Intermountain League games to be played at a similar pace.<\/p>\n

The Panthers were able to come away with a 55-46 win over the Rams to move into the finals. Lopez led the team in scoring against Soroco with 13 points, while Plewe scored 10 and Yanibah Bayles, Conklin and Tayla Topaha each added eight.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, M-CHS took on host Meeker in the championship game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had been running our press all weekend, and I kind of figured that Meeker would figure it out,\u201d McHenry said.<\/p>\n

Meeker may have been expecting to face the high-pressure defense, but it was unable to handle it, and the Panthers won the Championship game 35-16.<\/p>\n

Ralstin scored a team-high 10 points in the final contest, Plewe dropped in eight, and Lopez scored seven.<\/p>\n

McHenry credited the Panthers\u2019 defense in the win, specifically noting Kiselya Plewe\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cKiselya had \u2013 I don\u2019t have my stats right now,\u201d McHenry said. \u201cBut maybe double-digit steals in the middle. That\u2019s what got her noticed from the other coaches \u2013 running the center of the press.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plewe\u2019s play throughout the tournament led to her selection to the all-Ttournament team.<\/p>\n

McHenry was pleased with his team\u2019s showing over the three-day tournament, and noted how the trip also served as a bonding experience to bring the team together.<\/p>\n

Now, after the long weekend, McHenry and the Panthers have an open week to recover and refocus, with their next game scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 15.<\/p>\n

\n

M-CHS Varsity Girls<\/h4>\n

Schedule
\n Tuesday, Dec. 15
\n @ Monticello, 6:30 p.m.
\n Saturday, Dec. 19
\n vs. Aztec, 3:30 p.m.
\n Friday, Jan. 8
\n vs. Centauri, 6:30 p.m.
\n Saturday, Jan. 9
\n vs. Monte Vista, 5:30 p.m.
\n Tuesday, Jan. 12
\n vs. Pagosa Springs, 7 p.m.
\n Saturday, Jan. 16
\n @ Alamosa, 1:30 p.m.
\n Friday, Jan. 22
\n vs. Grand Junction Central, 6:30 p.m.
\n Saturday, Jan. 23
\n @ Bayfield, TBA
\n Tuesday, Jan. 26
\n vs. Durango, 5:30 p.m.
\n Saturday, Jan. 30
\n vs. Alamosa, noon
\n Friday, Feb. 5
\n @ Monte Vista, 5:30 p.m.
\n Saturday, Feb. 6
\n @ Centauri, 5:30 p.m.
\n Tuesday, Feb. 9
\n @ Durango, 5:30 p.m.
\n Friday, Feb. 12
\n @ Pagosa Springs, 5:30 p.m.
\n Saturday, Feb. 13
\n vs. Bayfield, noon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

to All-Tournament team and M-CHS starts season 3-0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5770],"tags":[21],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-107859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-school-sports","tag-cortez"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107859"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=107859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}