By Michael Hicks
Berthoud Recorder

FORT COLLINS — With an acknowledging nod of his head, Berthoud girls’ basketball head coach Randy Earl knew what his team was in for Thursday afternoon in the consolation bracket of the Poudre Holiday Invitational. That was a good thing.

The Lady Spartans had their way, as expected, the entire game en route to a 65-15 dismantling of Denver North. Berthoud (2-1) will play Saturday in the fifth-place game at Poudre High School. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

Even before Amy Ekart hit a game-opening 3-pointer for the first of her game-high 16 points, victory, truthfully, was never in doubt. It was more of a matter of by how much. But for Earl the game was more of an opportunity to get his team some quality playing time in the aftermath of Tuesday’s first-round loss to Columbine.

“We told them that we had to play well. It doesn’t matter about the competition. We have to do what we have to do, and for the most part we did that,” Earl said.

“I’m a little disappointed bit on offense. We had too many turnovers. We fouled a little bit too much on defense. For the most part we did what we needed to do.”

Berthoud scored 21 of the game’s first 23 points, led by 23 at halftime and 34 entering the fourth quarter. All nine players scored for the Spartans, capped off by Julia Perry’s 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 19 seconds left. Kacey Fagler and Rose Heaphy added 11 points each, while Stephanie Heaton added nine.

Denver North, which hasn’t had a winning season since the 2002-03 campaign, was led by Desri Gallegos’ seven points. Sara Aranda added six.
But the game was all about Berthoud.

“Everybody got to play a lot, at least, half the game. So everybody goes home happy,” Earl said.

BERTHOUD 65, DENVER NORTH 15
BERTHOUD — Megan McGinn 2 0-0 4, Amy Ekart 6 2-2 16, Shayla Martin 1 0-0 2, Kacey Fagler 4 3-3 11, Julia Perry 1 0-0 3, Danielle Wikre 4 0-0 8, Rose Heaphy 4 3-6 11, Stephanie Heaton 4 1-2 9, Sarah Loberg 0 1-4. TOTALS: 26 10-17 65.
DENVER NORTH — Desri Gallegos 3 1-3 7, Claudia Mendoza 1 0-0 2, Sara Aranda 2 2-2 6, Melissa Garcia-Franco 0 0-0 0, Antonia Garza 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 6 3-5 15.
3-POINTERS: Berthoud 3 (Ekart 2, Perry)
FOULED OUT: None
TECHNICAL FOULS: None