Gallery • 7 Photos

Kassidee Palmer (10) and Angala Jensen (11) cannot contain their excitement after a tense, close game against Eaton. The entire game, neither team had more than a four point lead, and Manitou pulled ahead in the last few seconds of the game.

Last night the Mustangs defeated Eaton in the state quarter finals.

The fourth seeded Manitou fought an extremely close game against the fifth seeded Eaton Reds. The score never wavered past a 4 point lead for either team. The entire game had been series after series of high paced exchanges; for every point the Mustangs would secure, Eaton would respond.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter the score was close, Eaton just in the lead. With intense bouts of fouling, scoring, and bodies hitting the court floor, Eaton and Manitou made it clear that this game would be a hard won battle. In the final few minutes, Shelby Hard, and Shelby Megyeri, we able to pull off several spin around, back hand layups, placing Manitou in the lead.

As the final minutes in the game dwindled down into slow moving seconds, it became clear that Manitou would remain the victor. The final score was 50-44.

Another notible player was Angala Jensen, who was instrumental in maintaining the Mustang defense. The Manitou Springs High School Pep Band also performed at the event in support of the girls. The band covered high paced renditions of Vehicle, Rockin’ Robin,  Chameleon, Locomotion, and of course, the school song.

Tonight’s match up against Sterling favors the number one seeded Tigers slightly. Sterling averages 1.6 points per game more than the Mustangs and 12.6 more rebounds. They also have a small advantage in assists, steals and blocks.

On the leaderboards, Mustangs #24 Megyeri falls just shy of the Tiger lead scorer, #33 Jenna Knudson, 17.4 ppg to 16.6. Megyeri edges out Knudson is assists 4.9 to 3.7. In rebounds, Mustangs Angala Jensen, 9.2, is only a few tenths of a point behind the Tiger’s Kenzie Chrisman, 9.5.

Tonight’s game against Sterling is at 4 p.m. The winner will take on the winner of of second seeded Pagosa Springs vs. third seeded Lutheran matchup in tomorrow’s championship game, at 5:30 p.m.