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Late preps: Vail Christian girls win at West Grand

Chris Freud
Vail, CO Colorado

KREMMLING – It’s never to early to look ahead – especially when you win.

Vail Christian girls basketball picked up a big victory Thursday night, downing West Grand, 32-28, in exotic Kremmling. (And, yes, after playing seemingly every 2A Western Slope team about three times, this was the official league game.)

Any league win is big, but Vail Christian, a 1A school come the post season, plays in its own league within the 2A Slope. Please remember that the Saints, Plateau Valley and North Park drop down to 1A for districts and the team with the best record in the 2A league among the three gets a favorable seed for district.



“Every league win gives us a chance to improve our seeding for districts,” Saints coach Doug Bruce said. “That’s what tonight and the next two or three games are about.”

And, if you’re wondering, Vail Christian is at Plateau Valley on Saturday in another big one.

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Ashlyn Gruber had 10, while McKenzie O’Brien and Kylie Alexander had six each. The Saints (5-7) were up 15-10 at the half and increased their lead to nine before it got close.

Under the category of “You’ve got to be kidding me,” West Grand’s Travis Gore hit a 70-footer at the buzzer as the Mustangs beat the Vail Christian boys basketball team, 60-57, Tuesday night.

In a side note, both Vail Christian football coach Tim Pierson and Saints boys basketball coach Sheldon Kuhns will personally walk Gore, a senior, through graduation this spring and see that he attends the college of choice next fall.

Robby Bowles had tied the game at 57 with his own 3 with just 30 seconds to go.

Bowles and Fernando Hernandez each led the Saint with 13 points. Nigel Johnsen and Ken Boselli each had nine. Zach Linder left the game with an unspecified injury.

“It’s gut-wrenching,” said Kuhns, whose team’s record is 6-5. “We need to come back and play even harder the next time. We did everything we could do to win the game. We’ve got to have a short memory.”

The boys are also at Plateau Valley Saturday.

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 or cfreud@vaildaily.com.


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