The Montezuma-Cortez Lady Panthers opened the 2017 part of their season with a rough patch.
On Saturday at Monticello, both the Lady Panthers and Buckaroos (9-2, 0-0) got out to a hot start, but M-CHS trailed 16-13 after the first quarter
The scoring slowed in the second frame for both squads, and the Panthers went to the half down 23-16. But the Buckaroos pulled away in the second half, outscoring M-CHS 25-10 to win 48-26
Myra Simmons and Kaleen Boggs led the Lady Panthers with seven points apiece, Dimery Plewe scored six and Hannah Carver and Cortney Cashner each finished with three.
In a rescheduled game on Monday at home, the Lady Panthers took on the Kirtland Central Broncos (5-7, 0-0).
After falling behind early, the Lady Panthers struggled to score and never could claw their way back into things, as the Broncos ran away with a 55-13 win.
Plewe tallied the most points for M-CHS with seven, Simmons and Cashner each scored two, and Payton Keith and Kaily Case tallied one apiece.
M-CHS (1-7, 0-0) hosts Alamosa (2-4, 0-0) on Friday and Centauri (8-1, 0-0) on Saturday to begin Intermountain League play.