Lady Savages Rout Two League Foes, Move to 11-0

Last week, the Lamar Lady Savages looked every bit like the third-ranked team in the Colorado Preps Class 3A poll. Lamar hosted a pair of opponents from the Tri-Peaks East, and sent them both home with lopsided losses.

Anticipation was high on Friday when the Lady Savages welcomed St. Mary’s into the Lamar Community Building. The Lady Pirates brought a #7 ranking into the contest and they had a chance to create a three-way tie atop the league if they could upset the Lady Savages. It did not take long to see just how big that “if” was.

St. Mary’s trailed Lamar 13-7 midway through the opening quarter, and then the Lady Savages increased the intensity. By the end of that first quarter, Lamar already had a double-digit lead, 21-10. It would get no closer, with the Lady Savages running away to a 76-43 victory.

Chelsea Vallejos posted her fourth game of at least 20 points this season, and third in four games, leading the way with 25. She was joined in double figures by Taylor Wertz (16 points), Courtney Clark (12) and Summer Eberhardt (10).

“To be honest with you, that’s as good as we’ve played, but it’s not as good as we can play,” coach Erik W. Melgoza said after the victory. “There are still some things we can clean up.”

Coach Melgoza had a chance to rest his top players once again on Saturday, when the Lady Savages jumped all over the visiting Lady Scorpions from Dolores Huerta Prep, 30-2 in the opening eight minutes. Lamar did not allow DHP to reach double figures in the game, holding them to just nine points. The Lady Savages topped the 70-point plateau for the fifth time this season, dropping 78 on the Lady Scorpions.

Wertz led a trio in double figures with 15 points. Abbie Reed chipped in 14 and Eberhardt tallied 10. Eleven Lady Savages got into the scoring column, including six bench players. Aleah Eddy led that group with eight. As a unit, the reserves contributed 23 points.

One of the areas that Melgoza mentioned that he would address after Friday’s game was free throws. St. Mary’s converted 19 of 24 attempts, scoring nearly half of their points from the charity stripe. Saturday night, the Lady Scorpions were just one of two.

Lamar leads the Tri-Peaks East by a game and a half over Trinidad and two games over St. Mary’s. The Lady Savages already own wins against both. Lamar will face Ellicott on Friday and James Irwin on Saturday. Those two sit fifth and sixth in the league, respectively.

By Kerry Sherman

Kerry Sherman and his wife, Colleen, moved to Lamar in August of 2013, from Anton, Colorado, to cover Southeastern Colorado high schools for Colorado Preps. Kerry is in his third year of streaming high school sports online for Colorado Preps, and this is his 23rd year of covering high schools for various print and online outlets throughout Colorado. He also has nine years of coaching experience, with the boys basketball programs at Woodlin and Otis.