HOLY FAMILY HOLDS ON TO REACH FINAL
FORT COLLINS — The tears were flowing down Ron Rossi’s face.
Just imagine what will happen if he and his Holy Family Tigers win it all Saturday. The Tigers (24-2) built their lead early and survived late for a 60-54 victory over Roosevelt in the Class 3A girls semifinals at Moby Arena.
“We just keep talking about teamwork, and playing as a team is just so important,” said Rossi, who guided the Lakewood boys program for 15 seasons and has coached for 32 seasons. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and this one’s for all the guys who have just stuck with it.”
Holy Family will play for its first title Saturday at 5:15 p.m. against Faith Christian, a team it hasn’t beaten in five years, in an all-Metropolitan League final.
The combination of Dori Gills and Jessica Giltner poured in a combined 38 points and when one wasn’t cracking the Roughriders’ defense, the other was.
Gills scored 14 of her game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter and came up with one big basket after another when Roosevelt would creep closer in the waning moments.
The Roughriders (24-2) struggled all game to find a complement to sophomore standout Sendy Valles. Alex Morford, who scored 24 on Thursday night against Lamar, didn’t heat up until the fourth quarter.
“We trapped (Valles) whenever we could, and even then we still couldn’t stop her,” Rossi said. “We wanted her to give the ball up and I thought we did a pretty good job on Morford, too.”
Valles finished with 22 points and seven rebounds. Morford scored nine of her 15 in the fourth quarter.
Faith Christian 45, C.S. Christian 29:
The Eagles were 29 points better than the Lions during the regular season. The 16-point spread was good enough Friday night.
“You know it’s going to be a battle, whoever we play,” Faith Christian senior Brittany Long said. “Whether we’ve played them or not, it’s going to be hard to win.”
For the second straight night, Faith Christian (24-2) did not shoot the ball well, instead relying on their defense to keep the game close until the shots began to drop. The defensive challenge for the Eagles was trying to contain not just senior Bethany Beck, but also 6-foot-4 sophomore Mogan Broekhuis.
Colorado Springs Christian (23-3) never found the offensive rhythm that was clicking in the first quarter. Broekhuis and Beck combined for 16 first-half points, and finished with just 20 between them.
Offensively, Long was just 3-for-19 from the field, but was 10-for-12 from the line en route to her game-high 16 points.
Bre McBeth chipped in with 13 for the Eagles.
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
