Yuma High School’s girls basketball team stopped a skid, now will be attempting to start a streak.
The Outlaws had lost three straight entering this past Tuesday’s 3A Patriot League home game against Platte Valley. They snapped that with an emphatic 55-19 win over the Broncos.
Admittedly, the losses have come against 2A No. 3 Simla by just seven, a heartbreaking 37-34 home loss to resurgent Brush last Friday, and scrappy 53-40 loss at 4A No. 7 Eaton last Saturday.
“We definitely went into each game with the right mind set of winning and had a chance in each game, just didn’t work out,” coach Jeremy Robinson said.
Yuma now is 7-5 overall, 2-1 in league play. They were No. 14 in the 3A CHSAA Seeding & Selection Index as of Monday. Platte Valley came to town 8-3 but No. 17 in the Index.
The challenges keep coming as the Outlaws travel to Ault on Friday to take on the Highland Huskies, who entered this week 6-5 and just ahead of Yuma in the Index at No. 13.
They then host Merino on Tuesday in a non-league game. The Rams entered this week undefeated and No. 1 in the 2A Index.
Yuma lost on a 3-pointer at the buzzer last Friday to Brush. The Beetdiggers have turned it around this season, sitting at 9-2 and No. 8 in the Index. However, the Outlaws had every opportunity for the victory but just could not string together enough key plays.
They had a great start to the second quarter, opening up a comfortable lead, but Brush finished with its own run as Yuma led 22-19 at halftime.
Brush kept it going at the start of the third quarter, scoring the first seven points for a 26-22 lead. Yuma answered with six straight of its own and led 30-29 entering the fourth.
It stayed tight and low scoring in the final frame as the teams combined for 12 points. The Outlaws managed just two baskets, the last by Bailey Nighswonger to tie the game at 34. Brush’s big, Michelle Headley, was tough to stop inside in the fourth, but it was someone else who nailed the loss on the Outlaws.
Brush came out of a timeout with 1.3 seconds left and ran a play with the inbounds going to the corner in front of the Brush bench, where Sarah Becker swished a trey as the buzzer sounded, giving Yuma a 37-34 loss.
“They were way more physical than us on the glass,” Robinson said.
Both teams shot under 30 percent, but Brush did make six from behind the 3-point arc while Yuma made two. Yuma made five more free throws but overall made just eight of 16 at the stripe. The Outlaws had just 10 turnovers compared to 26 for Brush, and came up with 16 steals. Brush, though, had 45 rebounds to Yuma’s 30.
Carolina Ross had 11 points, five steals and four rebounds, Taryn Sheffield eight pints and four rebounds, Bailey Nighswonger five points and four rebounds, Jade Lungwitz four points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists, Aubrey Black three points and four rebounds, Berkley Nighswonger two points and six rebounds, and Lauren Gonzales one point and three rebounds.
The Outlaws gave a good battle Saturday at Eaton. They trailed just 16-14 at halftime. The scoring picked up in the second half, but Yuma still was within five points, 34-29, after the third quarter. Eaton, though was able to pull away in the fourth to give the Outlaws a 53-40 loss.
Lungwitz had 11 points and three rebounds, Ross seven points and four rebounds, Berkley Nighswonger seven points, four rebounds and four steals, Black five pints, Sheffield four points and five rebounds, Bailey Nighswonger four points and six rebounds, and Gonzales two points.
Platte Valley came to town Tuesday night. It was close early, but the Outlaws went on a 17-3 run in the second quarter and kept it up in the second half. They made nine 3-pointers on 24 attempts. Lungwitz had 18 points, Berkley Nighswonger 16, Sheffield 11, Ross eight, and Sadee Mosenteen two.