Boulder – It happened to be brutal, with errors and miscues galore Friday night in the Class 4A girls’ final game of 2005-06.
Chalk up some of it to youth as there were a combined 76 missed field-goal attempts and 45 turnovers. In addition, the second basket of the fourth quarter – for either team – did not occur until 43 seconds remained, and there were only three baskets total in the quarter.
But none of that matters to the Mullen Mustangs, particularly Lauren Webb. The senior will remember her last basket as a schoolgirl forever, as her follow-up shot with two seconds to play gave her team a 37-36 decision of parochial rival Regis for the 4A title at the Coors Events Center.
It is Mullen’s first championship since it won three in a row in 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02. The Mustangs ended 25-2 and won 22 games in a row.
Webb’s putback capped a wild sequence. She rebounded an outside shot on the right side, missed a follow-up; rebounded and missed another follow-up; watched as teammate Meghan Hurley rebounded on the left side and had a putback blocked; then grabbed it and banked it in.
Regis frantically inbounded and tried to get downcourt, but a timeout was called. On the inbounds play from the sideline, a heave made it to Mindy Nielson, who managed to get off a reasonable 3-point attempt, which bounced off the rim.
“It was awesome, it’s just unbelievable,” Webb said. “I just grabbed it. I was going for everything.”
It capped the low-scoring game, but that’s what Mullen wanted. Regis (24-4) clearly was superior in overall speed and quickness and did everything it could to speed up the tempo, but the Mustangs had none of it.
“We really wanted to try to put some time in each possession, we wanted to try to lengthen each possession out to 20 or 30 seconds, and we did a good job of that,” first-year Mullen coach Frank Cawley said.
It was an unusual game in all regards, notably in that Regis, which had turnovers on its first five possessions and 24 for the game, never trailed by more than the 6-0 deficit in the opening minutes.
For Mullen, Webb, Hurley, Carrie Wagner, Jai Halliburton and Kathleen Majewski – who led the Mustangs with 14 points – combined to rebound, defend and bring the ball up against Regis’ pressure. They buckled slightly late, but didn’t break.
Meanwhile, the Raiders had one of those games. Poor ballhandling, shooting and decision-making will be on their minds for some time.
Yet, as coach Carl Mattei said: “After all of that, we were one rebound from winning the state championship. … It was just nerves. We were way too wound up. Then, when we had a chance, we didn’t make the ones we needed.”
Nielson paced Regis with 14 points, but Katie Mihalco was just 3-of-12 from the floor and Aija Putnina, bound to play at the same venue next season for the Colorado Buffaloes, was 0-for-4 and scored three points. Regis also missed 11 free throws.
“I’ll enjoy this for a while,” Cawley said.
Mullen 8 12 10 7 – 37
Regis 5 12 11 8 – 36
Mullen – Wilhelm 0 0-1 0, Erdle 3 0-0 7, Hurley 3 0-0 6, Wagner 1 0-1 3, Majewski 4 4-6 14, Webb 2 0-0 4, Maynard 0 0-0 0, Holley 0 0-0 0, Halliburton 0 3-4 3, Palmere 0 0-0 0, Kormondy 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 7-12 37.
Regis – Williams 1 5-10 7, Mihalco 3 0-0 6, Rolniak 1 2-5 4, Nielson 5 4-6 14, Putnina 0 3-4 3, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Winters 1 0-0 2, O’Dorisio 0 0-0 0, Bokenkamp 0 0-0 0, Roben 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 14-25 36.
3-pt. goals – Majewski 2.
