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AHS drops final two games of the season

Ben Husband

BASALT – Kelli Corrigan ruined any chances the Aspen High School girls’ basketball team had of taking the easy way into the Class 3A District Tournament.

Hosting the Skiers in the final game of the regular season, the junior center for Basalt erupted for a game-high 18 points, including 10 in the final period as the Longhorns defeated Aspen 46-41.

“My teammates were able to get me the ball with some real good passes,” Corrigan said. “We just played great together as a team.”



“She played great,” Basalt coach Debbie Cain said.”She can be pretty tough underneath the basket.”

The win lifted Basalt to 10-1 to end the season behind league winner Rangely (11-0).




“It seemed that everyone always had some doubt in us because we are such a young team – I heard it all the time,” Corrigan said. “We needed to prove to people this year that we can play basketball. we just wanted to show everybody that we are a good team.”

Corrigan scored all but two of Basalt’s points in the final period.

“It’s incredibly disappointing to play as hard as we did and come up empty-handed,” AHS coach Brent Waldron said.

Nicole Reno scored 11 points to lead Aspen while Ellen Falender added 11.

Ambere Cunningham scored 15 for Basalt.

Basalt will receive a first-round bye into the District Tournament beginning Thursday. The Longhorns will host the winner of Gunnison (seventh seed) and Paonia (10th seed), who will play in a pigtail game Tuesday.

The top four teams in the conference (Rangely, Basalt, Roaring Fork and Aspen) receive first-round byes on Tuesday night. The Skiers, despite falling to 8-4 (including a 44-38 los Friday night in Carbondale).

Aspen, who also lost to Roaring Fork 44-38 Friday night in Carbondale, dropped to 7-4 in the WSC standings and nearly had to play a pigtail game on Tuesday.

However, Meeker scored a dramatic upset over Battle Mountain to give Aspen fourth-place in the conference and the Tuesday night bye.

The Skiers will now host a Thursday night first-round game against the winner of the Eagle Valley (No. 5)-Cedaredge (No. 12) pigtail game.

Last year, the Skiers played a pigtail game en route to winning the District and Regional titles and qualifying for the State Tournament.

Roaring Fork finished as the WSC’s third seed and will host the winner of Battle Mountain (No. 6) and Olathe (No. 11) Thursday at Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale.

Top-seeded Rangely, 18-1 overall, will host the winner of the Hotchkiss (No. 8) and Meeker (No. 9) game Thursday.