Class 1A regional basketball: Cowboys shoot down Eagles in Glenwood

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Randy Schowalter finished with a game-high 10 points — six of them coming on three fourth-quarter field goals — and the Plateau Valley High School girls basketball team pulled away in the second half on their way to a 35-16 victory over Gilpin County in the Class 1A Region 1 title game played at Chavez-Spencer Gymnasium on the Glenwood Springs High School campus.

With the victory, the Cowboys (16-7 overall), the top seed in the District 8 tournament, advanced to the Great 8 round of the Class 1A state tournament, scheduled for later this week at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland. Plateau Valley has won four of its past five games, and the appearance at the final state-tournament site marked a remarkable turnaround for a Cowboys team that, just two years ago, finished with a 5-13 overall record.

The matchup held at the GSHS gymnasium was the first of four matchups held in Glenwood, which served as a host spot for the tournament that featured teams from Colorado’s smallest classification. Eight teams from around the state converged on the school, including Jim Elliot, Norwood, Rocky Mountain Lutheran, Ouray and Denver Waldorf.

Sierra Reynolds added eight points and Mariah Klinger chipped in six for Plateau Valley, which limited the Eagles (10-12 overall) to single-digit scoring in every quarter.

Senior Alyssa Chareeunsouk finished with a team-high eight points to go with to lead the way in scoring for Gilpin County, a school that’s based out of Black Hawk. The Eagles, which came into the eight-team Class 1A District 8 Tournament last week as the No. 2 seed, were coming off a 37-33 victory over Rocky Mountain Lutheran that propelled them into their matchup against Plateau Valley. They were limited, however, to just two third-quarter points by the Cowboys.

Norwood’s girls, who played Rocky Mountain Lutheran later in the day, had defeated Plateau Valley 41-34 in the District 1 Tournament title game on Feb. 28.