Bad memories have a way of getting teams to do good things.
Fueled by the thought of losing in the Great 8 last season, the top-seeded Mullen Mustangs came out full of aggression and confidence Saturday night to blow past No. 2 Golden 52-32 at Metro State.
“When we lost here it was the toughest loss ever, and I think all of us were thinking about that tonight, and it really helped us push toward the win,” said Mullen forward Carrie Wagner, who led the Mustangs with 14 points to help clinch the Lou Piel Region.
The Mustangs never trailed in winning their 20th straight game and improved to 23-2. Mullen advances to the Class 4A Final Four and will face surprising seventh seed Greeley West on Wednesday at the Coors Events Center.
Golden had its 12-game winning streak snapped and suffered only its second loss of the season to an in-state 4A team. The Demons finish their season 18-8.
Guard Jenna Erdle scored 12 points and Molly Wilhelm had seven for the Mustangs, who forced 32 turnovers in a physical encounter.
“Very physical, more physical than we thought they were going to be,” Erdle said. “We just used our transition and we just used our speed, and that seemed to work for us.”
The Mustangs led 11-2 after the first quarter and and 23-4 in the second quarter on a basket by substitute Jai Halliburton. The Demons cut the deficit to 40-26 with 6:36 remaining on a basket by Amber Nelson before Mullen closed out the game on a 12-6 run.
Mullen used its speed to harass the Demons on the perimeter, crippling their post game in the process and keeping the ball out of the hands of senior standout Blakelee Midyett.
“We thought their liability was probably at the perimeter guard play, so we went straight up man-to-man,” Mustangs coach Frank Cawley said. “We did a great job in the first half holding them to 12 points.”
Said Wagner: “It all comes down to defense, and you’ve got to start early.”
Midyett, who scored eight points, had all of Golden’s points until substitute Katja Jacobs hit two 3-pointers with less than two minutes left in the first half when Mullen switched to a zone defense.
Nelson finished with eight points and Jacobs had seven for Golden.
Golden 2 10 9 11 – 32
Mullen 11 16 13 12 – 52
Golden – Ekberg 0 0-0 0, Gillis 1 0-0 3, Nelson 3 0-0 8, Drexler 0 3-8 3, Midyett 2 4-4 8, Jacobs 2 1-2 7, Conklin 0 0-0 0, Wareham 1 1-2 3. Totals 9 9-16 32.
Mullen – Wilhelm 3 0-0 7, Erdle 5 1-2 12, Hurley 3 0-1 6, Wagner 7 0-0 14, Majewski 1 2-3 4, Palmere 0 0-0 0, Maynard 0 0-0 0, Webb 0 1-2 1, Kormondy 1 0-0 2, Watson 0 0-0 0, Halliburton 3 0-0 6, Holley 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 4-8 52.
3-pt. goals – Jacobs 2, Nelson 2, Gillis; Erdle, Wilhelm. Total fouls – Golden 13, Mullen 16. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
