Basketball season is officially underway for the Summit High School boys and girls basketball teams. 

The two programs played their first games of the season on the road this week, with the Tiger boys kicking off their season against Windsor High School and the girls facing Prairie View High School.

Summit girls basketball vs. Prairie View 

The Summit High School girls basketball team has started the season off to a hot start.

Despite making the playoffs last season, the Tigers began the 2023-24 season on a lackluster note, losing six straight games before recording a win against Middle Park right before the holiday break.

Unlike last season, Summit recorded a win in its first game this winter, defeating Prairie View High School in a tournament at Dakota Ridge High School on Thursday, Dec. 5.

Nearly right from the jump, Summit was nothing short of dominant. With it being the first game of the season, Summit may have started the game a bit timid, but the team was soon rolling towards the basket and scoring with ease.

In the first quarter, Summit put up 14 points while holding the Prairie View Thunderhawks to just two points. 

“It definitely felt like a first game,” head coach Kayle Burns said. “We had a lot of jitters and came out a little slow. Even though we were able to put up 14 points in the first quarter, we definitely need to work on some rebounding and some missed layups.”

The Tigers played even better in the second quarter, cutting through the defense and continuing to run up the score. At the halfway point of the game, Summit led 32-6.

Well in control of the game, Summit continued to score in the second half. Showing the team’s collective star power, seven of Summit’s 10 varsity athletes scored points against Prairie View. Leading the stat sheet was Kenya Rodriguez and Phoenix Meyer. The two juniors each contributed 15 points to the team, while sophomore River Close and junior captain Elle Chabot both scored seven points.

Putting together another dominant half, Summit rolled over Prairie View with a 54-21 win. The Tigers scored 12 points in the third quarter and 10 points in the final quarter enroute to the team’s first win of the season.

“Overall, the team came together,” Burns said. “The scoring was spread out, and everyone worked together. Our press looked great. … I am excited to get a game in which we scored over 50 points.”

“I think that we did really good,” Chabot said. ” Especially with the young players on our team stepping up. I think we need to improve our communication. Communication is a big part of basketball. I also think we need to work on confidence because basketball is a huge confidence game too.”

Summit is now 1-0 and faced Sierra High School (1-1) in the next round of the tournament on Friday, Dec. 6. Summit defeated Sierra, 35-29 in order to advance to the championship game on Saturday, Dec. 7.

Summit boys basketball vs. Windsor 

The Summit boys basketball team traveled to Fort Collins on Wednesday, Dec. 4, to take on Class 6A’s Windsor High School in the GoJo Tipoff Classic basketball tournament. 

With the Windsor Wizards advancing to the state final of the Class 5A playoffs last season, Summit knew coming into the game that a win was going to be hard to come by, but took the court with confidence in the team’s ability to challenge a historically competitive program.

In the first quarter, Summit executed its plan coming into the game. Not only did the team find ways to score baskets, but it also kept Windsor from getting out to a significant early lead. After the end of the first frame, Summit trailed 18-10.

In the second quarter however, Windsor found its groove on both sides of the court. Over the eight-minute quarter, the Wizards scored 21 points while holding the Tigers to just two points. 

Trailing 39-12, Summit played better after the halftime intermission. The Tigers once again worked together to score points, producing 11 points. On defense, Summit slowed the scoring of Windsor and held the Front Range team to 19 points. 

With the game slowly drifting out of reach, Summit slowed on both ends of the floor in the fourth quarter. In head coach Paul Lopez’s first game at the helm of the basketball team, Summit fell 72-28. With the loss, Summit is 0-1 on the season while Windsor advances to 1-0.

Summit faced Legend High School in the next round of the tournament on Friday. Summit fell to Legend, 83-33.