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Brook Prottsman battles around four Haxtun defenders to attempt a shot in Saturday’s match-up for third- and fourth-place district honors. —Johnson Publications photo

Girls knocked out of post season by Dragon rivals Yuma, Haxtun

Any hopes of the Lady Dragon varsity basketball team moving on to regionals were dashed by two of their season-long rivals: Yuma and Haxtun.
    After a big 47-26 win over Merino at home last Tuesday, Feb. 21, Holyoke advanced to the district semifinals to face Yuma Thursday at NJC in Sterling.
    After coming from behind and getting within one point of the Indians, Holyoke lost 28-32, their third loss to Yuma this season.
    That put them in Saturday’s third- and fourth-place game with Haxtun, another team that had already bested them twice in the regular season. It was an ugly game for Holyoke, and the 19-44 loss ended their season with a fourth-place finish at the district tournament.
    The top three teams from the district — Yuma, Wray and Haxtun — all advanced to regionals this weekend.
    “We knew if we got out of districts we would have had a great shot at state,” said coach John Baumgartner. Since Holyoke played in a very strong district, he expects all three of those teams to earn a spot at the state tournament.
    The girls can hold their heads up high, he said, beaming at what a wonderful and improved season the Lady Dragons experienced this year. Their expectations for themselves got higher as the season progressed, pushing them to new levels.
    The senior girls told the underclassmen, “We’ve started something, let’s continue it.”
    Baumgartner emphasized it was great to have support from the community. “It was a heck of a season,” he said.
    
    Holyoke 47, Merino 26
    The Lady Dragons headed into the first round of districts as the No. 3 seed, which gave them a Tuesday night home game with No. 6 Merino.
    HHS breezed by the Rams, giving Holyoke its third win over Merino this season.
    “We came out ready to go,” said Baumgartner. Holyoke took a 10-8 lead after the first quarter, and with defense keeping Merino to three points in the second, the Dragons led 18-11 at halftime.
    However, it was the second half that really made the difference. HHS outscored the Rams 17-10 in the third and 12-5 in the fourth for the 47-26 Holyoke win.
    Senior Karen Nuñez led the scoring effort with 13 points from three 2s and seven for nine from the line. Brook Prottsman also hit double digits with 10 points.
    Grace Dille had 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. Prottsman led steals with three, and Emily Jelden totaled five assists.
  

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