One simple thing led to everything else for the Denver Christian girls basketball team.
The Crusaders’ defense closed the door to the lane, and that forced Bishop Machebeuf beyond the 3-point arc for the entire second half and created fast-break opportunities for Denver Christian’s offense.
And despite allowing the Buffaloes to get close on the scoreboard a handful of times throughout the game, Denver Christian never trailed in a 43-34 Class 3A Metro League victory Thursday night at a packed Crusaders gym.
“We do run a lot in practice, and that helps us work so hard on defense. … This was such an intense game,” Denver Christian 6-foot junior Chelsea LeFebre said.
The Crusaders, No. 6 in The Denver Post/9News poll, improved to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in league play. Denver Christian, along with 8-1 Faith Christian and Holy Family, sits atop the Metro standings with one month to play in the regular season.
Lauren Baity scored 10 points in the second half to finish with 12, Kiley Gill scored nine of her 11 points in the first half and LeFebre grabbed 14 rebounds to go with eight points and three blocked shots. The Crusaders used just one player off the bench.
No. 9 Machebeuf, the defending league champion, dropped to 8-2, 2-1. Erin Doherty (12 points) and Renee Williams (nine points) each made three 3-pointers, but the Buffaloes could not create enough shots inside the arc and failed to match the Crusaders on the boards.
“They played very good defense, and that made it hard to get inside,” Williams said. “We tried to focus more on defense in this game, but they have some good offensive players.”
Machebeuf made six field goals in the second half, all 3-pointers except for Kelly Mathews’ putback at the final buzzer, and cut the lead to five points twice and four points once.
“We worked a lot on beating their 3-2 press, and once we broke it we got a lot of open shots,” Gill said.
Bishop Machebeuf 6 10 9 9 – 34
Denver Christian 11 13 8 11 – 43
Bishop Machebeuf – Funk 1 0-0 2, Wagner 1 1-4 3, Doherty 3 3-4 12, Mora 0 0-0 0, Madrid-Andrews 2 0-0 4, Mathews 1 0-0 2, Williams 3 0-0 9, Mapes 0 0-0 0, Jones 0 2-2 2. Totals 11 6-10 34.
Denver Christian – Gill 5 1-3 11, Van Deren 3 0-0 6, Lau. Baity 6 0-0 12, LeFebre 3 2-4 8, Lai. Baity 1 0-0 2, Landhuis 0 4-4 4. Totals 18 7-11 43.
3-pt. goals – Doherty 3, Williams 3. Total fouls – Machebeuf 15; Denver Christian 11. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
