Girls are back-to-back league champs

The Holyoke Lady Dragon basketball team pulled through with wins over Haxtun and Wray last week and have been named league champions for the second year in a row.

As of Monday, the team has a 12-0 season record and an 8-0 league record in the Lower Platte Activities Association.

The league title guarantees Holyoke a spot in the 24-team state bracket, which begins next week.

The Lady Dragons are finishing up regular-season games this week, traveling to Burlington on Tuesday and hosting Limon on Friday. Limon handed Holyoke its only loss of the season last year, and since the 2020 state tournament was canceled midway, they didn’t have a chance to play again until now.

State playoffs kick off with the first round Tuesday, March 9, sweet 16 Thursday, March 11, elite eight Saturday, March 13, final four Tuesday, March 16, and the championship Saturday, March 20. All of the games will be played at the higher seed except for the championship, which will be at Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs.

Holyoke coach John Baumgartner noted that Colorado High School Activities Association’s seeding and selection index will determine at-large qualifiers and seed the tournament brackets. This process will use four data points: CHSAA RPI, CHSAA coaches poll, MaxPreps rankings and Packard rankings.

As of March 1, Holyoke was ranked No. 2 behind Cedaredge in RPI and No. 3 behind Sanford and Cedaredge in the coaches poll. As of Feb. 26, MaxPreps listed Holyoke at No. 2 behind Cedaredge, and Packard put Holyoke at No. 4 behind Cedaredge, Sanford and Rye.

CHSAA will announce final seedings March 8. The top eight will get a bye for the first round.

With mandatory mask wearing, social distancing and a shortened schedule in an unprecedented pandemic year, Baumgartner said the Holyoke administration has appreciated the athletes’ and fans’ cooperation with the new rules.

He pointed out that everyone is doing everything they can to ensure the girls get to play this season, and he hopes it continues so that the team can have the opportunity to advance in the state tournament.

“It makes you proud to be from Holyoke,” said Baumgartner.

Holyoke 62, Haxtun 43

No matter what the season looks like, a game with county rival Haxtun will always be a good one.

Baumgartner said he has to give Haxtun credit because their girls really came out of the gates ready to play in Holyoke last Tuesday, Feb. 23.

Holyoke’s defense struggled in the first quarter, and the Lady Dragons led by only one point, 17-16, at the end of the period. They increased their lead by six in the second quarter for a 33-26 advantage at halftime.

Baumgartner said the team made some adjustments in the second half. Holyoke outscored Haxtun 15-10 in the third and 14-7 in the fourth to take the 62-43 win.

The Lady Dragons are really on a roll offensively, added Baumgartner. This was their fourth game in a row to record over 60 points. And with four girls in double digits on the scoreboard, “it’s awfully hard to guard us,” said the coach.

Kristin Vieselmeyer and Elyce Talavera scored 15 points apiece, Lauren Herman recorded 14, and Correy Koellner had 12 points.

Tuesday’s game was a milestone for Herman, who achieved a rare triple-double. In addition to her scoring effort, she had 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Koellner made it a double-double with 10 rebounds on top of her double digit points.

Vieselmeyer had the most blocked shots with four, and Talavera led steals with four.

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