Fort Collins – One year ago, Centauri made the long trip from La Jara to Fort Collins, only to go home a disappointing 0-2.
Dave Forster wasn’t about to let it happen again.
The fiery Falcons head coach kept his full-court press active the entire 32 minutes and blew out St. Mary’s Academy 65-38 at Moby Arena in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A girls state tournament.
“A lot better to play like this this year than the way we did last year,” Forster said.
Senior Janette McCarroll missed the first two shots she took, then she took over.
With twin sister Lisa sitting on the bench with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a torn medial collateral ligament in her right knee, Janette hit her next seven shots, and her 18 first-half points were the spark for the Falcons’ 34-20 halftime advantage.
“It was nice just to get back out on that court, and just get it all out,” said Janette McCarroll, who finished with a game-high 22 points. “Everything just started coming once we got used to the court.”
Centauri (22-1), which knocked the Wildcats out of the tournament last year in the first round, kept the pressure on in the third quarter and forced St. Mary’s into 11 of its 26 turnovers. But the lead grew only to 44-26.
A 17-6 run to start the fourth quarter gave the Falcons the cushion they needed.
“We hope this carries over to tomorrow, because we know Eaton will come out and play us tough,” Forster said of his team’s semifinal matchup.
Marcie Cooley finished with 20 points for Centauri.
Itsy Jones paced the Wildcats (18-8) with 11 points.
St. Mary’s Academy 12 8 6 12 – 38
Centauri 18 16 10 21 – 65
St. Mary’s Academy – Knapp 3 0-0 6, Lyons 2 0-0 5, Bell 4 0-0 8, Walsh 1 0-0 2, Jones 5 1-2 11, Reano 0 0-0 0, McHugh 0 0-0 0, Thayer 0 2-4 2, Wallace 1 0-2 2, Morton 1 0-1 2, Miller 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 3-9 38.
Centauri – J. McCarroll 8 3-5 22, Muniz 0 2-2 2, A. Gylling 4 2-2 10, Miller 2 1-2 5, Cooley 7 2-4 20, R. Gylling 0 2-2 2, Jaramillo 0 0-0 0, Norton 0 2-2 2, Smith 0 0-0 0, Booth 1 0-1 2. Totals 22 14-20 65.
3-pt. goals – Lyons; Cooley 4, J. McCarroll 3. Total fouls – St. Mary’s Academy 17; Centauri 13. Fouled out – None. Intentional foul – Walsh. Technicals – None.
FAITH CHRISTIAN 82, PLATTE VALLEY 66: Brian Wall and his Faith Christian girls basketball team had a plan to go right at Platte Valley, and it worked.
In the fast-paced opener to Thursday’s Class 3A play, the Eagles pulled away from Platte Valley in the final quarter to advance to today’s semifinals at Moby Arena against Denver Christian, a 53-46 winner over Pagosa Springs.
“That first half was just a track meet, and Platte Valley is so athletic and terrific offensively that we knew we were going to have to score a lot of points to compete with them today,” Wall said.
“Thankfully our girls stayed poised against their pressure and were able to get some transition points.”
The points came early and often in the first half. Faith Christian, which held the lead for all but 20 seconds of the half, carried a 42-41 lead into the break.
It was reserve guard Nicole Lukens who benefited the most, scoring 10 of her game-high 20 points after the Eagles successfully cracked the Broncos’ press.
The game stayed tight into the fourth quarter, when the Eagles (23-3) finally got some separation. Lauren Hoguta and Kayla Endes hit big shots that spurred a 15-3 run in the final five minutes. The Eagles also hit 15-of-18 free throws in the final quarter.
“You hit a couple of easy ones and the basket seems to get a whole lot bigger,” Wall said.
“We got a couple of key stops down the stretch to get some separation and that really, really helped.”
Player of the year candidate Alison Cheney of Platte Valley never found her stroke. She finished just 2-for-12 from the field, including 0-for-6 from 3-point range, and had just 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Kayla Warehime led the Broncos (21-5) with 20 points.
Brittany Long finished with 19 points for Faith Christian.
Platte Valley 20 21 13 12 – 66
Faith Christian 22 20 19 21 – 82
Platte Valley – Warehime 8 2-2 20, Smith 0 0-0 0, Zehnder 4 1-2 9, Cheney 2 10-12 14, Seyler 3 3-4 9, Schrader 0 0-0 0, Maestas 0 0-0 0, Miller 1 1-4 4, Ehrlich 3 3-4 10. Totals 21 20-28 66.
Faith Christian – Long 5 9-9 19, Bray 3 3-4 9, Endes 2 6-7 10, Paulsen 5 0-0 10, Roundtree 1 0-0 2, Zevenbergen 2 1-2 5, Hoguta 2 3-4 7, Lukens 6 7-10 20, Weingartner 0 0-0 0, McBeth 0 0-0 0, Lopez 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 29-36 82.
3-pt. goals – Warehime 2, Miller, Ehrlich; Lukens. Total fouls – Platte Valley 22; Faith Christian 19. Fouled out – Warehime. Technicals – None.
EATON 53, C.S. CHRISTIAN 40: Eaton coach Mason Young felt just about every emotion a human being can feel after his team’s victory over Colorado Springs Christian.
Young coached C.S. Christian for 12 years, winning the 2002 state title with the Lions, and his emotions got the better of him Thursday.
“Because of the people … that was the real start of getting my life going,” said Young, who also coached Lions football. “That coaching staff was my kids, and that band was playing songs I heard forever.”
Young’s Reds didn’t play their best game, but made the shots that mattered. It also didn’t hurt that the Lions made just nine of their 59 shots (15 percent).
“We didn’t play great basketball,” Young said. “It was an ugly win, but we’ve had a couple of those this year.”
Young’s daughter Katy and Katie Mackie each scored 13 points to lead the Reds.
Whitney Cunningham finished with 11.
C.S. Christian’s Lindsay Hestermann finished with a game-high 15 points, but was the only CSCS player in double figures.
C.S. Christian 6 9 14 11 – 40
Eaton 6 19 7 21 – 53
C.S. Christian – Routt 2 0-1 5, Hestermann 2 10-11 15, Friesen 1 0-0 2, Valdez 1 4-4 6, Dickinson 2 2-3 7, Beach 1 0-0 3, Beck 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 16-19 40.
Eaton – Young 3 6-8 13, Abeyta 2 2-4 7, Cunningham 5 1-2 11, Mackey 3 6-8 13, Rossman 1 0-0 2, Height 2 0-0 5, Sanders 0 0-0 0, Cazer 0 0-0 0, Stults 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 15-22 53.
3-pt. goals – Routt, Hestermann, Dickinson, Beach; Abeyta, Mackey, Young, Height. Total fouls – C.S. Christian 16; Eaton 20. Fouled out – Cunningham, Height. Technicals – None.
DENVER CHRISTIAN 53, PAGOSA SPRINGS 36: For years, the Denver Christian girls have played in the shadow of the school’s boys teams.
Not this season. The Crusaders advanced to the semifinals with a resounding victory over Pagosa Springs, and next they will take on Metropolitan League rival Faith Christian for the third time this season.
Denver Christian (25-1) shook off a sluggish first quarter and let their defense dictate the game in the second. The Crusaders held Pagosa to 0-for-5 from the floor and just four points.
“It took us a little while to get going, but we kept emphasizing the effort at the defense end,” D.C. coach Becky Mudd said. “They had some good looks, that they took advantage of in the second half, but they didn’t early.”
Chelsea LeFebre led the Crusaders with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Kiley Gill finished with 17 points.
Pagosa Springs (19-6), which made just 10-of-41 shots, was paced by Liza Kelley’s 10 points.
D.C. already has two victories over Faith Christian this season, and Mudd is not buying into the “tough to beat a team three times in a season” talk.
“We have the confidence that we know we can win,” she said. “We know them inside and out, and they know us inside and out. We know what we have to do to win.”
Pagosa Springs 7 4 12 13 – 36
Denver Christian 8 14 15 16 – 53
Pagosa Springs – Lynch 1 6-8 8, Kelley 2 6-8 10, Faber 0 0-0 0, Bulkema 3 2-6 8, Forrest 1 0-0 2, Mackey 0 2-4 2, Harris 1 0-0 2, Canty 0 0-0 0, Gayhart 1 0-0 2, Rand 0 0-0 0, Martinez 0 0-0 0, DeCharme 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 16-26 36.
Denver Christian – Gill 5 5-9 17, Van Deren 2 1-2 5, Lai. Baity 0 4-7 4, Lau. Baity 3 0-0 6, LeFebre 6 6-12 18, Lanhuis 0 1-2 1, Conner 0 2-2 2, McManus 0 0-0 0, Matthies 0 0-0 0, Van Denend 0 0-0 0, Rosendale 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 19-34 53.
3-pt. goals – Gill 2. Total fouls – Pagosa Springs 25; Denver Christian 22. Fouled out – Kelley. Technicals – None.
