Charlotte Lieu scored 17 points and Bridget Creed had 15 in a valiant comeback effort for the Meridian High School girls’ basketball team, but the Mustangs came up short in a 46-54 loss
to Skyline on Friday night. The Meridian Mustangs entered their regular-season finale with only one tally in the loss column, and it was against the same team they’d face on Friday, the Skyline Hawks. It figured to already be enough of an uphill battle for Chris Carrico’s girls to begin with, but especially so without starters Rose Weatherly and Aldyn Friesen.

On Wednesday against Liberty, Meridian jumped out to a 15-0 start but then had to fend off a late rally. This game was the polar opposite, with Skyline scoring the game’s first fifteen points before Charlotte Lieu broke the ice late in the first quarter. The Mustangs then went into the halftime break trailing 16-29.

Meridian got within six in the third quarter after a Lieu three, but that was as close as they would challenge. Skyline maintained about a ten point lead for most of the rest of the way en route to the single-digit win. “We just came out a little shell-shocked and then ran out of gas,” head coach Chris Carrico said postgame. He specifically pointed out Meridian’s rebounding as a struggle during
the comeback attempt. Anisa Frey joined Lieu and Creed in double figures with 11 points. Despite the loss dropping Meridian to 18-2, the Mustangs clinched the top seed and home court advantage
throughout the Regional playoffs, which will begin against a to-be-determined opponent next Friday.