RIFLE – Rifle High School basketball’s slate features two games with first place on the line, in the same gym Friday night.

To a prep basketball fan, Friday’s Rifle-Moffat County girls/boys doubleheader is as good as a regular-season contest can get.

Both sets of teams are tied for first place in the Western Slope League with identical 4-0 records, but Friday’s games have more merit for the winners than just breaking the log jam for the top spot in the WSL.

Finishing first in league play is important. The regular-season champ receives the No. 1 seed at the Class 4A district tournament. The league runner-up gets the third seed because 4A schools Montrose and Montezuma-Cortez, from the Southwestern League, automatically receive the No. 2 and 5 slots in the tournament, regardless of league records.

This season, Rifle’s success has come off the tenacity of both the defenses of both the boys’ and girls’ teams.

In four WSL games, the Bear boys have limited their opponents to 43 points per game, while scoring at a 60 point-per-game clip.

The girls are even stingier.

They’ve given up 35 points per game, while averaging 53 points on offense.

The Moffat County girls are 8-3 and have won four of its last five games since returning from Christmas break. The Bulldogs are lead by guard Laurel Mortensen, who scored 29 points in last weekend’s 54-41 win over Steamboat Springs.

Pablo Loya and Brian Showronski were the key players in the Bulldog boys 63-55 victory over Steamboat Springs, which raised Moffat’s overall mark to 9-2 this season. Loya paced the attack with 21 points. Showronski added 17.

The girls’ varsity contest is scheduled to start at 6 p.m., followed by the boys’ game follows at 7:30 p.m.

And things don’t get any easier Saturday night when the Bears travel to Steamboat Springs. The Steamboat girls and boys are both 3-1 in conference heading into the weekend.

contact Phil Sandoval at 945-8515, Ext. 538

sports@postindependent.com