Englewood, Co.-The Englewood High school girls basketball team came to the court with a different mindset last night. The opponent was Weld Central. But it didn’t feel like any ordinary game. This was different because one of the players from Weld Central passed away over the holiday break.

According to The Tribune newspaper in Greeley, 16-year-old Isabel Leet died in a one-car crash early Friday morning in the southeastern corner of Weld County. The girl everyone called Izzy was a starting point guard on Weld Central High School’s varsity basketball team. Her coach said she was the kind of player who would think of her teammates first.

The game in Englewood was the first matchup since the accident and it was a somber evening. Yet players from both teams wanted to play the game Leet loved. Players from both teams held a moment of silence before the game to honor Leet and Englewood players gave the Weld coach a card. In addition, during the first and second period of play, volunteers were taking donations from the crowd for raffle tickets. Before learning of the death of the player, they were going to give away a gift card in the raffle. Instead, the money raised from the raffle was donated to the Weld Central team.

Englewood lost by 2 points 32-34, but their actions gained the respect of the Weld Central team that will last a lifetime.

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Riley Jones

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