Here they go again, the Yuma High School girls basketball players hitting the long road for another shot at a postseason upset.
The Indians’ season somewhat was put in peril when they lost February 22 at home to Burlington, 54-50, in the first round of the Class 2A District 2 Tournament, after leading 34-18 at halftime.
However, the Indians’ overall rating was strong enough for them to end up with the 21st seed for this week’s 32-team regional.
In fact, all seven teams in District 2 advanced to regional. Holyoke, first, Wiggins, second, and Wray, third, earned the district’s automatic berths. Burlington still got in as the 32nd seed after losing its final two games in district, and Sedgwick County and Akron joined Yuma as first-night losers that still advanced to regional.
Yuma coach Jeremy Robinson said that was expected when considering the strength of schedule ratings on MaxPreps.
“The LPAA is the only (league) in the 5-plus range of strength of schedule,” he said. “Everybody else is negative.”
For example, Akron has the lowest of the District 2 teams in strength of schedule with a plus 5.7. Yuma’s is 7.7, and Wray leads all seven teams with an 8.6.
On the flip side, fifth-seed Rye, where the Indians go this weekend for regional, has a negative-4.7 strength of schedule. Yuma first plays 12th-seed Heritage Christian in the regional semifinal, Friday at 7 p.m. Heritage Christian has a negative-5.0 strength of schedule. The other team in Region 5, Front Range Christian, which plays Rye at 5 p.m., has a negative-6.3
In other words, despite boasting just a 9-11 record, the Indians might have a chance to once again pull off some upsets on its way to another state quarterfinals appearance.
“I like our chances,” Robinson said. “I just wanted to play somebody completely different.”
That is because Yuma already has played Heritage Christian, 48-45, back in December in Yuma’s holiday tournament.
The Eagles ran off 14 straight wins after the holiday break, before being upset by Dayspring Christian Academy, 43-41, last Saturday in their district championship game. They take a 19-3 record to Rye. They have two players who score more than 15 points per game, Siemers and Hughes, but no one else averages above six.
Rye definitely is a tough team, despite its poor strength of schedule, as it comes into regional with a 22-0 record. The Thunderbolts also are led by two scorers, senior sisters Sydney Adamson (20.2 points per game), and Sophie Adamson (17.1 per game).
“The super nice thing about our weekend is we will have the same game plan, how do you stop two players,” Robinson said. “If we do that, I like our chances.”
Yuma seemed well on its way to at least reaching the district semifinals last week.
The Indians perhaps played their best first half of the season against Burlington, racing out to a 34-18 lead.
Slow starts had been an issue all season, so finally having a great first half seemed promising. However, the Indians just simply just saved the rough parts for the second half. They scored just two points in the third quarter, as Burlington pulled to within 36-31.
The Cougars kept up the pressure, eventually taking the lead midway through the fourth, and held off a final Yuma rally to claim the win.
Freshman Kiyarra Williams went off for 30 points against the Indians, and Trinitee Holmes added 13.
Lea Richardson led Yuma with 24 points, eight rebounds and six steals, Caddis Robinson had nine points and five rebounds, Sam Wells eight points and seven rebounds, Meidi Reyes four points and two assists, Emma Rayl two points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, Ashley Ibanez two points and two rebounds, and Lyndsey Mekelburg one point and two steals. Jossy Munoz and Liddy Day both had two rebounds, and Hailey Eyring one.
“That was a tale of two different halves,” Robinson said. “Someday we’re going to play a full four quarters. Hopefully, it will be Friday.”
