An up-and-down season came to a fitting conclusion for the Yuma High School girls basketball team, last weekend in the Class 2A regional at Rye High School.
The “up” was a 42-38 win over Heritage Christian in the regional semifinal, Friday night. The “down” was a 44-11 loss to Rye on Saturday, bringing their season to an end with a 10-12 record.
“It definitely had its ups and downs,” coach Jeremy Robinson said, “and it definitely ended on a down.”
Yuma was 6-3 when it went on a six-game losing streak. The Indians rallied for two wins at the end of the regular season, and got the second seed for district, then was upset in the first round after leading by 16 at halftime.
They still qualified for regional, and at least got one win, reaching at least the Sweet 16 for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons.
Robinson said he is looking forward to finally getting in a summer season with his players, having missed out on that opportunity the past two years. In fact, it will be the first time Robinson will be able to have a full summer program since taking over as head coach.
“There’s just some things to build a team that need to be in place, and this team just didn’t have that,” Robinson said.
Yuma was the 21st seed in the 32-team regional field, and took on 12th-seed Heritage Christian on Friday, a team the Indians actually had beat in Yuma in December.
They were able to do it again in Rye.
It did not start out so well, as often has been the case this season, as the Indians fell behind 14-4. However, they rallied the rest of the first half for a 19-19 tie at halftime.
The second half remained tight throughout. The Indians trailed by one after the third quarter, but again made plays down the stretch. Free throws by Emma Rayl and Ashley Ibanez in the final 30 seconds sealed the 42-38 victory.
“We did our usual start, then worked our way back,” Robinson said. “We had to play well and play hard to beat Heritage Christian. I was pleased with how we played on Friday.”
Yuma shot 34 percent from the floor and made just seven of 16 at the charity stripe, but did enough, including pulling down 34 rebounds, to pull out the win.
Ibanez had 11 points and four rebounds, Rayl 10 points, four rebounds and two assists, Lea Richardson seven points, six rebounds and two assists, Sam Wells seven points, four rebounds and two assists, Meidi Reyes four points and two rebounds, Caddis Robinson three points and nine rebounds, Lyndsey Mekelburg two rebounds, and Hailey Eyring, Jossy Munoz and Jailyn Mekelburg one rebound each.
Friday’s game started at 7 p.m., and the Indians, who stayed about 30 miles away in Pueblo, were back on the court at 12 noon Saturday regional final against undefeated Rye.
The Thunderbolts had blown out Front Range Christian, 51-14, on Friday. They feature a tall, strong senior lineup with plenty of recent state experience.
Yuma got on the board first — but didn’t score again until there was just a couple of minutes left in the first half, on a Liddy Day 3-pointer. The Indians trailed 21-5 at halftime. Rye continually got downcourt for easy looks, often on long passes on inbound plays.
The Indians stayed even in the third, but then were shutout 16-0 in the fourth, finishing with just 11 points.
“Eleven points is what you shoot for in the first quarter,” Robinson noted.
He said he did not know why the Indians were so flat. He mentioned they had played the previous evening, then played again early Saturday. The Indians also lost a starter early in the game after a hard fall to the floor.
However, in the end, Rye is just really good and one of the contenders to win the 2A title this weekend at the Budweiser Events Center.
“We would have had to play really well to beat them,” Robinson said.
Day had three points, Robinson three points and two steals, Richardson two points, four rebounds and two steals, Ibanez two points and five rebounds, Wells one point and five rebounds, Eyring one each of rebound, assist and steal, Munoz one rebound and J. Mekelburg one rebound.
The game ended the high school careers of seniors Sam Wells, Meidi Reyes and Jossy Munoz.
Several players are returning or coming up for what should be a promising future for Yuma girls basketball, though the Indians will move into a revamped Class 3A next season.
