After two consecutive seasons that ended with deflating losses in the Class 5A state championship game, the Horizon Hawks have a collective one-track mind and a rallying cry to go with it.
“The first thing we say when we huddle up is, ‘Take state, baby!”‘ Horizon junior Lacey Herz said.
Herz is hoping to step into the lone starting role that opened after graduation and join two young guards with ankle-breaking moves in Cherae Medina and Nikki Trujillo, a legitimate force in the post in Cara Lambert and last season’s Ms. Colorado Basketball by The Denver Post in Hannah Tuomi. Tuomi is one of the most tenacious rebounders ever to come through the state.
The Hawks lost 58-50 to Highlands Ranch last season and 60-48 to ThunderRidge the year before. Those two schools have won the past seven 5A girls state titles, and Horizon would like to have that trophy shipped north up Interstate 25 to their trophy case in Thornton.
Tuomi, for one, wants nothing else.
“I’m sick of taking second place. I’m going to work as hard as I can every practice and go as hard as I can every second of every game. I have one goal left to reach before I go,” said Tuomi, who has signed to play at Vanderbilt.
Horizon’s experienced lineup is a blend of experience and promising youth, size and speed, and coach Mike Carey said the least of his concerns this season will be trying to come up with motivational phrases.
“After getting to state twice and not winning, I don’t have to do too much. The kids are pretty well focused,” Carey said. “We’ve got the talent, we just have to put it all together as a team. That’s what we lacked last year. We had good individuals but not necessarily a good team effort.”
Carey, whose daughter, Jamie Carey, arguably was the best prep point guard in state history, ran into a squad that played with that kind of team effort in the title game.
Highlands Ranch, led by 10-year coach Caryn Jarocki, has a point guard who knows how to play at top speed. Jaclyn Thoman, who committed to Boston College last spring, can penetrate the lane for her patented reverse layup or distribute the ball to one of her hot shooters with equal ease.
Junior Alyssa Fressle emerged as an athletic, aggressive talent for the Falcons, and guards Melisa Ryba and Jade Davis stepped up late in the season and in the playoffs.
Any fan looking for a bleacher-shaking rivalry game should underline Feb. 16 on the calendar. That’s when Highlands Ranch and ThunderRidge meet in the regular-season finale.
“We thought we’d up the ante and make it at the end of the season,” Jarocki said.
There was some movement of players among the top teams. Highlands Ranch lost forward Abby Thorderson to Arapahoe but picked up Hannah Breidel from ThunderRidge. The Grizzlies also lost Tiffany Amos, who transferred in from – and back to – Arizona, a senior who opted not to play.
But Kelly Hartig, a 6-foot-3 post player who will join sister Jayna at Virginia, is back and better than ever, as are talented sophomore twins Brenna and Meagan Malcolm-Peck. Brenna is recuperating from an undiagnosed illness that caused her to lose 10 pounds. She will miss the first four weeks of the season, but coach Bill Bradley said she will be fine.
His concerns, then, shifted to a rough-and-tumble early schedule. ThunderRidge opens with Fort Collins, then Legacy and the super-talented Melissa Jones (bound for Baylor), followed by the city’s best team in East before heading to the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona.
“The first seven games are on the road, and you don’t like to see that with a young group like this,” Bradley said.
Then again, putting a team through the ringer might be the best way to prepare it for a loaded 5A field. In addition to the three teams on ThunderRidge’s early schedule, perennial title contender Heritage, Arapahoe, fresh-up-from- 4A Regis, Rocky Mountain and Colorado Springs’ Doherty and Air Academy should contend.
Heritage features post player Andrea Swanson and two other returning 6-footers, as well as the dead-eye shooting of Beckett Brennan, who made 72 3-pointers last season.
“There is a lot of talent at the top, but there are teams like ours that could do well if they put in the time and play with focus and determination,” Cherry Creek coach Missy Steck said.
