Cards cruise into first

PARACHUTE — It was over almost as soon as it began.

The Grand Valley girls basketball team’s offense was unstoppable, going up 20-4 in the first quarter, on its way to a 50-33 victory over Meeker on Thursday night.
The Cardinals moved the ball around at will, finding the open shot and getting eight Cardinals in the scorebook.

Sherry Mlakar got the ball rolling with two 3-pointers in the first quarter as Grand Valley took a commanding lead.

“We jumped all over them. We came out, things were clicking, we were shooting the ball well, maybe we got some favorable bounces — I think we kind of took them by surprise,” said Cardinal head coach Mike Johnson. “The pace of the game was just right for us.”

Grand Valley point guard Kendall Babler led the way for the Cards with 13 points. Whitney Ashcraft followed with 10 and Lyndsey Tonder finished with eight.

Both teams entered the game without a loss in Class 2A Western Slope League play but, with the win, the Cards moved into sole possession of first place at 4-0 in league and 12-2 overall.

Meeker, which also lost to Grand Valley in the Meeker Cowboy Shootout earlier in the season, fell to 3-1 in league and 10-5 overall.

“We’ve got four or five tough teams in league and we certainly feel like they are one of them,” Johnson said of Meeker.

Johnson is hoping his Cardinals can outplay all of their league opponents as they did Meeker and finish the season as outright league champion with an undefeated record. The mark would automatically send Grand Valley to regionals.

“Undefeated means protected,” Johnson said. “Then we don’t have to mess around with that district tournament.”

Grand Valley still has a chunk of the league schedule to go through before districts and regionals, starting with another WSL contest tonight at West Grand.