LITTLETON — Chatfield’s Dr. Jekyll was better than its Mr. Hyde on Wednesday.
The seventh-seeded Chargers, known this season for their unknown ability to dominate and disintegrate at any time, rode a fiery start to earn a 54-34 victory over Littleton in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament.
“The first quarter was really good, but we slacked off in the second quarter,” Chatfield senior Chelsea O’Brien said. “That’s our Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. But I think halftime really helped us.”
The Chargers (13-11) led by 25-4 midway through the second quarter only to have their lead whittled down to 11 by halftime. The Chargers were back up by 22 toward the end of the third quarter as they re-established their groove of hitting from outside and inside, and by forcing a total of 30 turnovers from the 10th-seeded Lions (11-13).
Senior Dilan Sutliff scored 12 points to lead the balanced Chargers, who got nine points from O’Brien, eight from guard Kate Kurtenbach and seven points apiece from Danae Morton and Chrissy Armstrong.
The Chargers advance in the Kaye Garms Region to face No. 2 Arapahoe (19-3) on Friday.
The Lions’ zone defense looked like the right call early before Sutliff hit two 3-pointers. The Lions went with a man defense only to be battered inside as the Chargers got rolling.
“That’s one thing we’ve been struggling with is we can’t get our momentum,” Sutliff said. “So to get out and hit some early shots that really helped us.”
The Lions had 18 turnovers in the first half, which contributed to them taking just 13 shots — 21 fewer than the Chargers. The Lions played hard, but sometimes were too aggressive in their transition passing and guilty of too much passing in their half-court set.
Madison Craver led the Lions with 11 points, and senior Tanecia Quillen scored seven. Craver said Chatfield’s mixed defense caught the Lions off guard, while Chatfield’s offense answered Littleton’s defensive challenge.
“On man (defense) they were hitting inside, on zone they were hitting 3s,” Craver said.
Chatfield’s defense ruled the third quarter as the Lions had to wait until the 3:28 mark for their first points and shot just 2-for-10 from the floor in the period.
Littleton 2 15 5 12 — 34
Chatfield 12 16 14 12 — 54
Littleton — Flagg 0 0-0 0, Quillen 2 3-4 7, Craver 3 5-6 11, James 2 0-0 5, Orndorff 2 0-0 4, Neal 2 0-0 5, Britz 0 0-0 0, Gruber 1 0-0 2, Eubank 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 8-10 34.
Chatfield — Kurtenbach 3 0-0 8, Sutliff 5 0-1 12, O’Brien 2 5-6 9, Morton 2 3-6 7, Armstrong 3 1-2 7, Hanna 1 0-0 3, Smart 2 0-1 6, Kotulak 0 2-2 2, Kules 0 0-0 0, Murphy 0 0-0 0, Bame 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 11-18 54.
3-point goals — Neal, James; Kurtenbach 2, Sutliff 2, Smart 2, Hanna. Total fouls — Littleton 18, Chatfield 15. Fouled out — None. Technicals — None.
