Season Preview: Colorado Springs Metro South

<strong>How it all shook out in ‘19-20 </strong>Try to keep up with the following numbers and letters as it's a bit confusing -- Cañon City tied with Sierra for the 4A C.S. Metro League crown, each team 14-1 in league, 20-5 overall. Mesa Ridge was four games back, and Harrison and Widefield six. Woodland Park was 6-17, 4-12. 4A Coronado was 7-17 in the 5A-4A, where 5A Palmer was a game-and-a-half better at 8-15. Got it? <strong>Teams –</strong> Cañon City, Coronado, Harrison, Mesa Ridge, Palmer, Widefield and Woodland Park. <strong>Which playoff team advanced the furthest?</strong> Cañon City earned a first-round bye and enjoyed two double-digit victories before being overwhelmed by defending 4A champion Mullen, which rolled by 70-33 in the quarterfinals. No other league team made it out of the second round in any other bracket. <strong>A few returning players to watch</strong> <strong>Zion Cantres, Palmer, 2021, F, 6-0</strong> Cantres brings defense and rebounding inside for the Terrors. As a junior last winter, she averaged 5.4 points, five rebounds and 1.7 blocks and will be a key piece of a returning core of players with high hopes for the coming season. <strong>Mady Ley, Cañon City, 2022, G, 5-9</strong> Key Tigers seniors graduated; now, it's her turn. Even while playing with a pair of talented seniors in 2019-20, Ley averaged eight points, 3.5 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 3.1 steals a night for a Cañon City teams that upset No. 1 overall seed Sand Creek in the second round of last year's Class 4A state tournament. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="116817" first="Liliani" last="Krause"], Widefield, 2021, F, 5-9</strong> Looking to improve 35 percent field-goal shooting, Krause will likely be in the driver seat for Widefield yet again. Widefield began the year 0-7 but found its footing once it hit its league schedule and Krause, who had five double-doubles during the year and 90 offensive boards, was a big reason why. She averaged 14.3 points and 7.8 points. [player_tooltip player_id="116762" first="Amyah" last="Moore"], Harrison, 2021, G, 5-8 The league's leading scorer (21.8 points) returns. Moore also averaged 3.3 assists, six rebounds and four steals per game and scored 20 or more points 15 times in 2019-20 and proved herself capable of taking over a game at any time. She'll have some tough competition to fend off but Moore has to be the earlier favorite for player of the year in the C.S. Metro South. [player_tooltip player_id="327704" first="Alyssa" last="Rodriguez"], Palmer, 2023, G, 5-3 Rodriguez led Terrors in scoring (13.5 points) as a freshman, so it will be exciting to see how far she can climb from there. Small but unafraid when attacking the basket, Rodriguez also shot 39 percent (64 for 164) from 3-point range last season and will be looking to light up the scoreboard as a sophomore in Season B. <strong>Some other names to know</strong> Kassidy Cargill, Woodland Park, 2021, C, 5-11 [player_tooltip player_id="203429" first="Fatinah" last="Muhammed"], Coronado, F, 5-10 Emily Schumacher, Palmer, 2021, F, 5-11 [player_tooltip player_id="207104" first="Emily" last="Till"], Cañon City, 2022, F, 5-11 Marissa Spencer, Mesa Ridge, 2021, F, 6-0 <strong>A quick, early look to Season B</strong> It's another byproduct of the coronavirus (COVID-19) – one league, seven teams and three classifications. Palmer, which has some height, will be a popular choice as the five 4A entrants took some graduation hits, But there's a league title available and a half-dozen others feel it's about as wide open as a Colorado High Plain.