Mia Lark got Santa Fe off on the right foot at Crest Ridge last Friday night. The senior knocked down a three, and then Brooke Dierking got a score for a 5-0 Santa Fe advantage. The Lady Cougars roared back though, using their defensive pressure and scoring the next 11 points as the first quarter ended 11-5.

In the second quarter the Lady Chiefs saw a three ball from Tynlee Koch tickle the twines, however at the intermission, the Cougars were churning along enjoying a 24-8 lead.

In Q3 the Crest Ridge defense was pesky once again, only allowing a lone bucket by Lark, and it was 33-10 after three periods of play.

In the final frame CRHS kept the Lady Chiefs at bay and extended the lead out, however the Chiefs saw more scoring of their own with another trey by Koch, a bucket by Elise Michael, a three by Gentry Ballenger, and a free throw by Tatum Fitzwater, for a nine point quarter. Crest Ridge took the win by the final score of 48-19. The win by the Cougars snapped a long losing streak to Santa Fe dating back nine games to 2018. Scoring: Michael 2, Koch 6, Dierking 2, Lark 4, Fitzwater 1, Ballenger 3. CRHS was led by Wilhite with 16.

Next up was another I-70 match up at Wellington. After the Lady Chiefs lost seven in a row to Wellington, Santa Fe came in riding a six game win streak against the conference rival. This contest would be another close battle. Coach Hon’s team got on the board first via a transition basket by Lark at 5:30, then Fitzwater rattled one home from the elbow for 4-3 after a Wellington trey. Down 5-4 Lark got to the stripe making it 6-5 Santa Fe, with just over 2 minutes in Q1 left, and that score held as Q1 ended.

Lark hit a corner three at 5:41 in the second quarter for an 11-7 lead, Dierking then answered a Tiger three with a score from behind the arc, and later Lark went coast to coast for a layup to end the half 19-11 in favor of SFHS.

After the break the Tigers stormed out to tie the ball game at 19 all two minutes in. After a Santa Fe timeout to talk things over, Koch nailed a three pointer, but soon Wellington went up 2822. The Tigers pushed the lead to 33-23 before Michael hit a mid ranger. Q3 ended with the score of 35-26 Wellington up.

Koch struck again with a three ball at 5:48 in the 4th, making it 3733, Wellington. Koch drained another three at 3:30 garnering a WNHS timeout with the Lady Chiefs now leading by a narrow one point advantage, 38-37. Under a minute left after a missed free throw, Lark saved a ball underneath and Sami Mueller found a wide open Abbi Mueller after a baseline cut for a 4437 score with 45 seconds left and Santa Fe would go on to win their 7th straight over WNHS 4542. The win takes the record to 14 and 8 overall, and 4 and 2 in conference play. Scoring: Michael 2, A. Mueller 6, Koch 13, S. Mueller 1, Dierking 4, Lark 16, Fitzwater 3. Wellington was led by Anniston Hampton with 19, and Ayden Eliensohn with 17.