Girls basketball: Grand Valley rolls on

The Grand Valley girls basketball team had a pressing engagement Saturday.

A passing engagement, too.

The Grand Valley girls, with a suffocating full-court press, shut down the Aspen Skiers on Saturday, rolling to a 50-21 victory at the Aspen High School gym.

The Cardinals pressed to a 13-0 lead to start the Western Slope League game, eventually settling for a 19-3 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Grand Valley hit three 3-pointers in the first period alone.

They added another in the second period as the halftime lead grew to 44-19.

Junior Kylyn Rigsby added another trey in the second half, finishing with a game-high 24 points for the Cardinals.

She had 15 points in the first half.

Freshman Shaya Chenoweth, an ambidexterous wizard for the Cardinals, added 14 points, including one 3-pointer.

She also had seven rebounds in the win over the Skiers.

Bailey Rowe added two 3-pointers for Grand Valley.

Cliara Sanchez led Aspen with six points.

Simone Lamont added five for Aspen.

Claire O’Sullivan and Claire Boronski scored three each for the Skiers, who moved to 1-7 overall, 0-3 in conference play.

Grand Valley elevated its record to 8-1 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the Western Slope League.

The Aspen girls will face two league games again next weekend, hosting Coal Ridge on Friday and playing at Basalt on Saturday.

The Aspen girls were coming off a 54-30 loss at Olathe on Friday night in another game against one of the league powers.

After playing Coal Ridge and Basalt, Aspen will play at Moffat County in Craig on Jan. 29.

They will play at Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale on Saturday, Jan. 30.

dstrode@aspentimes.com