Simla – In the final seconds of a sticky game, Whitney Liggett found herself as wide open as the surrounding spaces of this small town.
“I caught the ball, and my coach told me to shoot it,” Liggett said after drilling a 3-pointer with 18 seconds to play Thursday night that sent Limon to the District 8 title game.
Calmly catching and shooting from the left wing, Liggett, a senior, delivered and the two-time defending Class 2A state champion Badgers slipped by Kiowa 44-43 in the district semifinals.
Limon (19-2) will meet host Simla in the title game today and Kiowa (18-3) will take on Colorado Springs School in the third-place game. If Limon defeats Simla, the Badgers are district champions and the top seed into the regional rounds.
Kiowa must defeat C.S. School and hope Limon downs Simla – because the district has added a playback formula. If the runner-up hasn’t played the third-place winner, there will be a playback Saturday.
But Liggett and the Badgers don’t want to bother with technicalities. They want to win today, then earn a regional victory to go after their fifth title since 2002.
Limon trailed for much of the game. However, five consecutive turnovers in the third quarter erased the Indians’ second eight-point lead of the game and Kiowa was only 1-of-6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter (5-of-12 for the game).
Limon rebounded the last errant free throw, caught Kiowa flat-footed on defense, and Liggett drilled it.
“Actually, I told her ‘Hit it,”‘ Badgers coach Mark Brown said.
Liggett “had been struggling,” Brown said, “but she just needed to let it go.”
Kiowa, which fell to Limon in its season opener, got trapped in a corner and didn’t get off a good shot in the final seconds.
“We had our chances,” Indians coach Dave Ehmann said. “We didn’t come up and play ‘D’ on (Liggett). It was one of those things where it was a heck of a game to win and a heck of a game to lose.”
Kiowa’s Amanda Bartlett led all scorers with 18 points.
Kiowa 16 10 9 8 – 43
Limon 12 11 10 11 – 44
Kiowa – Bartlett 7 3-3 18, Sticher 3 1-1 7, Gabehart 0 1-4 1, Jantz 4 0-2 8, Deimling 4 0-2 9, Durant 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 5-12 43.
Limon – H. Naylor 4 1-1 9, Haley 3 1-2 7, Brown 3 5-6 11, Liggett 3 2-2 10, Grimes 2 1-2 5, J. Naylor 1 0-0 2, Kollath 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 10-13 44.
3-pt. goals – Deimling, Bartlett; Liggett 2. Total fouls – Kiowa 11, Limon 13. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
