Today's Sports

Known as sloppy starters who clean up well, the Evergreen girls finally rewarded themselves by dominating the first half Jan. 20 against Arvada.

And that fast finish? It was more like a lull.

"We had gone down and we thought, ‘We got this," Cougars sophomore Jordan Florschuetz said. "But you can’t ever let up. You have to always play hard throughout the whole game."

CONIFER — Alison Gorrell is Conifer’s best player, but the argument can certainly be made for Cara Walderman being the team’s most valuable.

As the Lobos tangled with cross-town rival Evergreen on Jan. 9, Gorrell was held relatively in check by the Cougars, who managed to hold the super sophomore to just two field goals thanks to a highly effective box-in-one defense.

With all the extra attention focused on Gorrell, the No. 9 Lobos needed someone else to step up in the scoring department.

It’s easy to see the glass as half full this season for the Cougars.

Of course, when are youth and optimism not joined at the hip?

Evergreen’s youthful bunch chased and harassed D’Evelyn for 36 minutes Jan. 13 before they were finally put to rest with 13 seconds remaining. But plenty of glimpses of what could have been and what could be were apparent in the 56-51 Class 4A Jefferson County League defeat.

LAKEWOOD — Following a mandatory two-week hiatus due to the holidays, Evergreen boys basketball coach Scott Haebe was nervous about how his team would open 2009.

While the Cougars weren’t perfect Jan. 3, they were awfully good.

Hot shooting from the perimeter (eight 3-pointers) and a tenacious defense that forced 16 turnovers carried Evergreen to a painless 70-42 cross-classification victory over Lakewood that exceeded their coach’s expectations.