Air Force Academy – It started ugly and ended wild. And when it was over, both teams felt like they’d been there before, because they had.
Eads won its eighth Class 1A girls championship Saturday in a 35-32 nail-biter over North Park, the fourth runner-up finish in five years for the Wildcats.
Eads sophomore Jordan Barnett scored 11 of her 16 points in an interesting fourth quarter to erase a five-point North Park lead, including two huge 3-pointers down the stretch and a free throw with 2.4 seconds left.
“It’s a great game now,” Eads coach Shawn Randel said. “During it, it wasn’t much fun.”
The first quarter was painful to watch with North Park taking a 5-3 lead. The Wildcats took a 21-13 advantage at intermission but struggled mightily in the third quarter, scoring only two points. Eads wasn’t much better, managing only five in the quarter.
“We’ve been a defensive team all year, and that defense helped us through that first half,” Randel said. “It was ugly offensively, but defensively we were allowed to stay in the basketball game.”
The Eagles started three sophomores, and at times it showed.
“We just had to get them to relax a little bit and realize it’s not the end of the world if we miss a shot,” Randel said. “Once we got relaxed, understood what we were doing again and got refocused, we played a lot better.”
Barnett tied the game at 24 on a 3-pointer with 6:10 left in the game, adding another 3-pointer moments later. North Park’s Kaitlyn Hanson tied it at 32 on a 3-pointer with three minutes left, but a Barnett jumper made it 34-32 with 1:15 left.
“Three-pointers are what I do best,” Barnett said. “That’s what I practice the most, and that’s what I’m most confident with. I knew I could make them.”
Barnett also made a couple of costly turnovers down the stretch, but she was the most entertaining player on the floor.
“She’s just a sophomore and she made a lot of mistakes late when we could have closed the game out, but you’ve got to love her determination,” Randel said.
“She hit big shot after big shot to keep us in the basketball game. She’s got a lot of growing to do, but without her we wouldn’t have been anywhere tonight.”
North Park coach Randy Hodgson said anyone who would rather not get to the championship game if it meant losing over and over doesn’t understand athletics.
“Unfortunately we’re used to it,” Hodgson said. “I’m just proud of our kids. Most teams make their kids play summer ball. Our kids work, we don’t do any summer ball. I couldn’t be prouder.”
Eads 3 10 5 17 – 35
North Park 5 16 2 9 – 32
Eads – Glover 0 0-0 0, Buck 1 1-2 3, Barnett 6 1-5 16, Sicklebower 1 0-0 3, Hansen 3 2-4 8, Weirich 0 0-0 0, Saffer 2 1-1 5. Totals 13 5-12 35.
North Park – Hanson 2 0-0 5, Goulette 0 2-2 2, Souza 2 1-2 5, R. Gonzales 1 0-0 3, D. Gonzales 1 0-0 3, Nameth 1 0-0 2, Corkle 4 4-5 12, Rizon 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 7-9 32.
3-pt. goals – Barnett 3, Sicklebower; D. Gonzales, R. Gonzales, Hanson. Total fouls – Eads 15, North Park 14. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
THIRD-PLACE GAME
HAXTUN 45, KIT CARSON 36
Haxtun 10 12 15 8 – 45
Kit Carson 10 4 11 11 – 36
Haxtun – Green 1 0-0 3, Dishman 6 8-10 23, Pierce 0 0-0 0, Kroeger 4 0-3 8, Starkbaum 0 0-0 0, Salyards 1 0-0 2, L. Kipp 0 0-0 0, Evans 0 0-0 0, D. Kipp 2 4-4 9, Nelson 0 0-0 0, Widgery 0 0-2 0, Kuehn 0-0-0 0. Totals 14 12-19 45.
Kit Carson – Dawson 2 0-1 5, S. Mays 3 0-1 6, Rhoades 0 0-0 0, Medford 0 0-0 0, C. Mays 2 3-4 7, McDonald 0 0-2 0, Ball 2 0-0 4, Jolly 5 4-6 14. Totals 14 7-14 36.
3-pt. goals – Dishman 3, Green, D. Kipp; Dawson. Total fouls – Haxtun 13, Kit Carson 13. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP
MERINO 50, CALICHE 42
Caliche 8 3 9 22 – 42
Merino 11 16 13 10 – 50
Caliche – Kippes 3 0-2 6, Ring 2 0-0 4, A. Marin 3 4-7 10, Stampf 1 0-0 2, Morgan 4 2-2 12, M. Marin 4 0-0 8, Huss 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 6-11 42.
Merino – Barker 2 2-2 8, Shimpaugh 2 4-6 9, Imhof 0 0-0 0, Coats 0 0-0 0, Scalva 4 2-7 10, Hendricks 1 2-2 4, Cook 0 0-0 0, Hauer 0 0-0 0, Hase 0 0-0 0, Owens 1 1-4 4, Fritzler 4 7-10 15, Hooton 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 18-31 50.
3-pt. goals – Morgan 2; Barker 2, Owens, Shimpaugh. Total fouls – Caliche 24, Granada 15. Fouled out – A. Marin, Morgan. Technicals – None.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Jordan Barnett, Eads, So.
Cassie Corkle, North Park, Sr.
Kara Dishman, Haxtun, Jr.
Kaitlyn Hanson, North Park, Fr.
Talli Hansen, Eads, Jr.
MVP: Talli Hansen
