Area athletes are preparing for their playoff contests as the winter season winds down. Here are some notable performances from last week’s action.

Information is prior to Tuesday evening’s contests.

14ers

Elijah Mack, sr., Doherty, boys basketball – The Spartans’ scoring machine produced another quality performance and helped lead Doherty to a victory against Vista Ridge.

Mack finished with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Spartans to a 73-53 win against the Wolves.

The 6-foot guard finished the regular season with six consecutive games in double figures and scored 20 or more in four of those contests.

Lorenzo Bustamante, sr., Vanguard, boys basketball – Bustamante closed the regular season with a proverbial bang.

In the season finale against Rye, Bustamante scored a career-high 33 points – all of which came from 11 made 3-pointers.

During the final four games of the regular season, Bustamante scored 88 points or 22 points per contest.

Logan Boyer, sr., Palmer Ridge, boys basketball – Boyer capped the regular season with a flurry of scoring for the Bears.

In a win against Falcon, Boyer notched 30 points, his third contest with 30 or more, and finished 9-for-11 at the line.

Against Cheyenne Mountain, Boyer scored 27 and hit all eight of his free throws. For the season, Boyer is 89 of 102 at the charity stripe, or 87 percent.

London Praytor, sr., Liberty, boys basketball – The Lancers’ big is cooking at the right time with playoffs on the horizon.

Praytor closed the season with four consecutive games of 20 points or more, his best stretch of the season, and rocked Lewis-Palmer in a 77-67 win in the regular-season finale.

The 7-foot Praytor dropped 21 on the Rangers and added 10 rebounds and five blocks in the victory.

Lyrik Smith, jr., Coronado, boys basketball – The Cougars had a rough season, but they closed on a high note and were buoyed by Smith.

In a 68-39 win against Harrison, Smith scored 13 points and snagged nine rebounds. Smith also had five assists and a pair of steals in the win.

Boaz Galliart, sr., Evangel Christian Academy, boys basketball – The matchup against Peyton didn’t end how the Eagles hoped, but Galliart had one of his best games of the season.

The Eagles senior finished with a game-high 28 points and drained a career-high six 3-pointers.

ECA’s 6-foot guard reached 10 points or more in every game and totaled 306 for the season.

Jaden Lopez-Hardy, jr., Fountain Valley, boys basketball – In his fourth consecutive game with 20 or more, Lopez-Hardy had his best scoring performance of the season.

Lopez-Hardy dropped 25 on Colorado Springs School in a 28-point win and finished 9 of 13 from the floor.

The junior also hit a season-best three 3-pointers, grabbed 11 boards, had five assists and five blocks against the Kodiaks.

Marisa Reyes, sr., Sierra, girls basketball – Usually the Stallions senior is dealing on the diamond. Against Pueblo Centennial, Reyes served the Bulldogs heat.

Reyes scored a season-high 17 points at Pueblo Centennial to help lead Sierra to a 51-34 win.

The Stallions guard finished the regular season with double-figure scoring in two of her final three contests.

Jordyn Rollins, jr., Colorado Springs Christian, girls basketball – Rollins rolled Vanguard in a matchup last week and left the game with a monster double-double.

The Lions junior finished with career-highs in points (20) and steals (12) in a 51-33 victory against the Coursers.

For the season, Rollins has 129 steals, which is 21st in Colorado and 35 more than she had as a sophomore.

Reagan Schultz, jr., Evangel Christian Academy, girls basketball – No box out could keep Schultz off the boards in a matchup with Peyton last week.

Schultz had a career-high 17 rebounds alongside 14 points in the 54-33 win against Peyton.

It marks the seventh game this season where Schultz had 10 or more rebounds. In the finale against Limon, Schultz finished with five blocks, which is the second time the junior had as many in a game this season.

Aneace Forman, fr., Thomas MacLaren, girls basketball – Forman’s second 20-point game of the season helped the Highlanders earn their 17th win in a row.

In a 66-32 win against Crowley County, Forman hit her team’s only made free throws (four) and finished with a game-high 20 points along with a pair of 3-pointers.

Alexis Hunter, sr., Falcon, girls basketball – Hunter nearly outrebounded Mesa Ridge by herself. And that was just on the offensive end.

The Falcons senior grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds — 14 on on offense — in a 67-14 win against Mesa Ridge.

It’s the third time this season the 6-foot-1 center finished a game with double-digit offensive rebounds and the ninth contest Hunter had at least 10 total boards.

Rylee Edmondson, jr., Lewis-Palmer, girls basketball – The Rangers’ lethal shooter helped elevate her team to a victory in the finale against Liberty.

Edmondson finished with a game-high 23 points and added 14 boards in the contest. Seven of Edmondson’s 14 rebounds came on offense, and the junior added four steals.

Sara Christensen, jr., Thomas MacLaren, girls basketball – A monster season will continue into the postseason for Christensen.

Christensen closed the regular season with 16 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and five steals in a 66-32 win against Crowley County.

The Highlanders guard is sixth in Colorado and 47th in the nation in steals per game at 7.3, and Christensen finished the regular season with 154. Christensen has 10 games with eight or more steals.

Compelling contests

Boys basketball

Pine Creek 55, Rampart 51

Despite trailing 33-20 at halftime to the Rams, the Eagles soared in the second half.

Pine Creek outscored Rampart 20-4 in the third quarter and held the Rams to just 18 total points in the second half.

The Eagles finished with 35 in the final two quarters, and Blake Marshall led the way with 28 points, one shy of his season high.

Colorado Springs Christian 67, Banning Lewis 49

Considering the Lions had a 9-10 record entering this matchup while the Stallions were 16-3 and on a 10-game winning streak, this went awry for Banning Lewis.

The Lions led 33-28 at the break but exploded for 24 in the third quarter and held the Stallions to 15.

In the fourth, Banning Lewis mustered just six while Colorado Springs Christian added another 10 points.

Banning Lewis’ 49 points marked its fewest since it started the win streak with a 45-40 victory against Manitou Springs on Jan. 16.

Girls basketball

Lewis-Palmer 39, Discovery Canyon 37

The Rangers won this matchup despite scoring just 10 in the second half and two in the fourth quarter.

Discovery Canyon trailed 29-12 at the break but cut the lead to 37-24 to start the fourth quarter. Lewis-Palmer held Discovery Canyon to four points the first 6-plus minutes, but the Thunder scored nine points in 66 seconds to close the gap to 37-36.

The Rangers went 2-for-6 at the free-throw line in the last 25 seconds of the game, but it was enough to stave off a rally from the Thunder.

Liberty 57, Fountain-Fort Carson 55

The Lancers exploded for 20 points in the third quarter against the Trojans after trailing in the first half.

Samira Gantt and Emma Hill combined for 41 of Liberty’s 57 points and finished 17-for-28 as a duo.

Liberty also managed to win the contest despite hitting just one 3-pointer to Fountain-Fort Carson’s five.

In case you missed it…

Widefield’s Isabella Monk drops a career high, scores 1,000th point

The Gladiators junior needed 40 points to reach 1,000 for her career. She dropped 41 instead.

One game after scoring 25 against Mesa Ridge, Monk finished with 41 of Widefield’s 67 points in a 67-35 win against Harrison on Jan. 25.

Widefield athletic director Jeff Giovannone said, “It was a Jordan performance,” referring to the Chicago Bulls star in the 1980s and 90s.

Monk finished the regular season with 312 points and helped lead the Gladiators to their third consecutive winning season.