Andy Bockelman/Craig Press
The Rifle High School basketball trip to Moffat County Thursday night saw mixed results, as the girls fell 53-29 to the 3A Bulldogs and the boys came away with a 52-37 win.
The first eight minutes of the girls game saw the host team on point from the arc, as Halle Hamilton, Cayden King, Stephenie Swindler and Jacie Evenson each hit a triple in the 20-9 period.
Emaleigh Papierski would hit two more 3-pointers and Hamilton earned a second to make it 27-13 at halftime.
Though the third quarter went better for the Bears in a 10-9 round as the Lady Dogs struggled, Moffat found their groove in the fourth with a newfound attack beneath the bucket to close out the victory.
Rifle’s boys got an early jump on the Bulldogs in a 13-7 start.
A putback by Wesley Counts midway through the second quarter got Moffat County the closest it would be for the remainder of the game, at 15-14, before going to a 19-15 intermission, advantage Rifle.
Repeated trips to the charity stripe down the stretch gave the Bears nearly half their point tally, ending the evening with a 23-for-29 count in foul shots compared to 16 successful free throws on the same number of chances for the Bulldogs.
In other final-weekend-before-break basketball action, Glenwood Springs’ trip to the Trojan Classic in Longmont saw the boys fall 61-45 to Longmont, while the Demon girls topped Longmont, 60-40.
Both Roaring Fork teams are at the Black Canyon Classic in Gunnison, where the Rams boys fell 46-24 to Montrose and the girls won 53-36 over Palisade.
