Must-see Front Range League games …

Emma Rich

Neil Devlin

January 19, 2021 @ 09:00 AM

The 12-team Class 5A Front Range League, down from 13 a year ago, will have room for a full league slate as well as a couple of nonleaguers. Graduation robbed most of defending league champion Fossil Ridge’s power, but the northern group as a whole has replacement talent on the way. Here’s some of what you shouldn’t miss:   Wednesday, Feb. 10, Horizon at Legacy, 7 p.m. The visiting Hawks have holes of their own to fill, but [player_tooltip player_id="117703" first="Audra" last="Vine"] and Britta Cardenas (both 2022s) were good for a combined 21 points per outing a season ago and should be good for more. The nearby Lightning will be without its two top scorers from 2019-20, but everyone else returns, notably [player_tooltip player_id="117718" first="Katie" last="Paredes"] and Westbrook Jensen (both 2022s).   Friday, Feb. 19, Broomfield at Fairview, 7 p.m. This one could be the focal point of the league. Broomfield is headed by the 6-foot-2 [player_tooltip player_id="95128" first="Courtney" last="Wristen"], who has signed to play at San Diego and is coming off a 14.2 -point, 9.0-rebound season. She’ll get help from [player_tooltip player_id="203422" first="Emma" last="Rich"], [player_tooltip player_id="203423" first="Hayley" last="Ventura"] and Jaylene Young (all 2022s) who each saw significant minutes the past year. Fairview has work on its own to do – four of its top seven scorers from a year ago have moved on -- but [player_tooltip player_id="117721" first="Kailey" last="Page"] (2022), Makenna Englund (2021) and Emma Novak (2022) have experience. And the Knights have a knack for rarely falling off the league map.   Also keep an eye on … Friday, Jan. 29, Fossil Ridge at Rocky Mountain, 5 p.m. We’ll get to see what the SaberCats have or don’t have right off the opening tip – their top six scorers are gone and Natalie Zachner (2021) is the only returner who played in all 26 games in 2019-20. Laisha Armendariz-Lopez (2021) tops the Lobos in a rivalry matchup.   Friday, Jan. 29, Holy Family at Broomfield, 5:30 p.m. It’s the kind of city rivalry Colorado needs more of as the Tigers, who have been in the past two 4A finals and return their top six scorers (led by [player_tooltip player_id="116779" first="Alyssa" last="Wells"], 2021), visit the 5A Eagles in early nonleague. Tus is the kind of game fans surely will miss.   Wednesday, March 3, Monarch at Mountain Range, 7 p.m. [player_tooltip player_id="222378" first="Natalie" last="Guanella"] (2023) is coming off a nice freshman season for Monarch; [player_tooltip player_id="203428" first="Hannah" last="Chavez"] (2021, 11.1 points), the Mountain Range top scorer in 2019-20, also returns.