The playoffs are all about survival, and Horizon needed all the endurance it could muster down the stretch to hang on against a team that made its living with second-half comebacks.
The Hawks made just enough free throws in the waning minutes, and Kelsie Gourdin’s last-second shot to tie went long as Horizon slipped by Heritage 66-63 in the quarterfinals of the Class 5A girls basketball playoffs on Saturday at the Denver Coliseum.
Three Horizon starters reached double-figures in scoring, led by 19 points apiece from Hannah Tuomi and Cara Lambert.
Tuomi, the state’s leading rebounder the past two seasons, pulled down 11 boards, and Lambert had 10. Nikki Trujillo added 12 points.
State runners-up to ThunderRidge last season, the Hawks (21-4) controlled the first half with leads of 17-5 and 33-21 before Heritage (19-7) engineered one of its patented rallies.
“(Heritage) is just a really good team with a lot of heart. They came back against Arapahoe (for a Sweet 16 overtime victory) so we knew it wouldn’t be easy,” Lambert said.
Horizon will play ThunderRidge, a 62-45 winner over Grand Junction, in the semifinals.
The game started to tighten up late in the third quarter when Horizon’s 12-point halftime lead shrunk to six. Heritage’s Gourdin and Andrea Swanson took over the fourth quarter by slashing into the paint for a wave of easy baskets.
Swanson scored 10 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 15 rebounds, Beckett Brennan hit four 3-pointers en route to 18 points and Gourdin finished with 10.
With the score 60-57 Horizon and less than a minute left to play, Hawks freshman Cherae Medina stepped to the line on three consecutive possessions and made 3-of-6 attempts.
Heritage was unable to capitalize on those misses and found itself trailing 63-59 with 28 seconds left.
More time at the line for both teams ended with the Eagles trailing 66-63 with seven seconds remaining, but Heritage had its one last gasp.
Unguarded, Gourdin put up a shot that hit the back of the rim and bounced out as the buzzer sounded.
Horizon 20 15 13 18 – 66
Heritage 10 13 17 23 – 63
Horizon – Medina 0 6-12 6, Trujillo 3 5-6 12, Crosby 1 3-4 6, Tuomi 7 5-5 19, Lambert 9 1-2 19, Herz 2 0-0 4, Stephenson 0 0-0 0, Shotts 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 20-29 66.
Heritage – Haugen 0 0-0 0, Jackson 1 4-5 6, Brennan 5 4-5 18, Swanson 8 2-4 18, Gourdin 3 4-5 10, Pfannenstein 2 4-6 8, Dylla 1 0-0 3, Semin 0 0-0 0, Stirling 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 18-25 63.
3-pt. goals – Trujillo, Crosby; Brennan 4, Dylla. Total fouls – Horizon 17; Heritage 22. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
