AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Saturday’s Class A girls state championship game was a matter of haves and wants.
Eads, the defending state champion, entered the game having won eight state titles since 1984. Meanwhile, Briggsdale was playing for its first.
The Eagles also had one other thing the Falcons didn’t. Her name is Talli Hansen. And no matter whom Briggsdale used to defend the 6-foot-1 Eads senior center, the Falcons didn’t have any answers.
Hansen scored 17 of her game-high 28 points in the first half as Eads won its third state title in six years with a 59-37 victory at Clune Arena.
“Every title is different,” Eads head coach Lane Gooden said. “Last year’s was a special title. This year’s is a very special title.”
Hansen, who finished the three-day event with 62 points, was named the tournament’s MVP. Finishing her career with two straight state titles, as Hansen put it, is a great way to cap a career.
“I don’t know how much different it is (from last year). We knew how it felt to win a title, and we went out there and left it all on the line,” Hansen said.
The second-seeded Eagles (23-3) used an 18-4 second quarter to distance themselves from fifth-seeded Briggsdale.
“I told the girls to be ready for a grind. I didn’t feel like it would be a 20-point game,” Gooden said.
Briggsdale (22-4) kept the game close in the first quarter, despite an early 9-2 run by Eads, thanks to the play of junior Tessa Ellis. The Eagles guard scored 10 of her team’s points in the first eight minutes, including a pair of 3-pointers, as Briggsdale trailed only 13-12.
But after an Arika Mondt baseline jumper cut Eads’ lead to 15-14 early in the second quarter, the Eagles scored the next eight points, and the game was for all intents and purposes over at that point.
Eads led by 15 at halftime and built a 23-point lead in the second half.
A big reason for Eads’ success was just having Hansen on the floor. When she wasn’t scoring, her teammates, left open by Briggsdale’s zone defense, were.
Eads’ Jordan Barnett scored 14 points and Lisa Miller added eight, including six in the second half.
Briggsdale showed its character by going on a 13-0 run early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 47-37 with 3:56 left. But the margin was too much for the Falcons to overcome.
Yet, all wasn’t lost for Briggsdale on the weekend, considering the Falcons, making their first appearance in the Great 8, advanced to the championship game. In the process, they upset top-seeded and perennial state powerhouse McClave in the semifinals to reach Saturday’s title game.
“Obviously, everything was brand new to us,” Briggsdale coach Robert Williams said. “Wow. . . . I think what we learned was that they can play with anybody. We just ran out of steam there.”
Meanwhile, Eads learned that it’s the best team in the state for the second year in a row.
EADS 59, BRIGGSDALE 37
Briggsdale 12 4 6 15 — 37
Eads 13 18 14 14 — 59
Briggsdale — L. Mondt 1 0-0 3, Ellis 6 2-2 16, Konig 2 0-0 4, A. Mondt 3 1-1 8, Endreson 1 0-0 2, Dilka 2 0-1 4. Totals 15 3-4 37.Eads — Glover 2 0-0 4, Barnett 3 7-8 14, Sicklebower 1 2-2 5, Miller 4 0-0 8, Hansen 11 6-9 28. Totals 21 15-19 59.3-pt. goals — L. Mondt, Ellis 2, A. Mondt; Barnett, Sicklebower. Total fouls — Briggsdale 16; Eads 11. Fouled out — L. Mondt. Technicals — None.
All-tournament team: 1A girls
Jordan Barnett, Jr., Eads
Talli Hansen, Sr., Eads
Tessa Ellis, Jr., Briggsdale
Arika Mondt, Sr., Briggsdale
Jerrica Mallard, Jr., McClave
MVP: Talli Hansen
