LOVELAND — Greg Hahn loves coaching basketball. Some may say he loves it too much.
The animated coach of the Horizon girls came to the Budweiser Events Center last season with a team he thought could make some noise, only to be ousted by East in the Sweet 16.
One year later, and one year wiser, the Hawks made amends Wednesday night with 69-49 victory over Front Range League rival Fort Collins and advanced to Friday’s Class 5A Great 8 at the Denver Coliseum.
“It’s good to square things out a little bit,” said Hahn, whose 24-1, top-seeded team will face Central (Grand Junction) on Friday night.
As if the Hawks needed any more motivation, with all attention being paid to the Continental League’s trio of favorites, Horizon is perfectly comfortable flying under the radar.
“We’re just looking for respect and are out there playing trying to get it,” senior guard Cherae Medina said. “Those team are great, but we are being overlooked.”
Medina, along with Meagan and Brenna Malcolm-Peck, proved to be too much for Fort Collins. The trio accounted for 56 of the Hawks’ 69 points.
Ally Girardi led the fifth-seeded Lambkins (16-10) with 16 points.
Fort Collins 12 11 13 13 — 49
Horizon 19 15 23 12 — 69
Fort Collins — Lopez 2 1-1 6, Geise 1 2-2 4, Jordan 2 0-0 4, Girardi 4 7-11 16, Minchow 4 0-0 8, Groeger 0 0-0 0, McAuliffe 1 0-0 2, Boley 0 0-0 0, Bateman 0 0-0 0, Rudel 1 1-2 3, Skillman 1 0-0 2, Arneson 2 0-0 4. Totals 18 11-16 49.
Horizon — Medina 6 3-4 16, M. Malcolm-Peck 7 4-8 19, Clements 1 1-1 3, B. Malcolm-Peck 8 2-2 21, Foster 3 2-2 8, Ro. Bollinger 0 0-0 0, Ra. Bollinger 1 0-0 2, Dyer 0 0-0 0, Burke 0 0-0 0, Rasmussen 0 0-0 0, Ramos 0 0-0 0, Gardiner 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 12-17 69.
3-pt. goals – Lopez, Girardi; B. Malcolm-Peck 3, Medina, M. Malcolm-Peck. Total fouls — Fort Collins 14; Horizon 14. Fouled out — Clements. Technicals — None.ThunderRidge 55, East 40. In postseason play, it seems the longer you let a underdog hang around the more likely it is to bite you.
The Grizzlies took the best the Angels could throw at them for a half, and it wasn’t until midway through the third quarter when they started to pull away.
ThunderRidge (22-3), the top seed in the Carol Callan Region, behind an 11-0 run in the third quarter finally got the breathing room it needed, building its lead to 14.
Shae Kelley led East (16-8) with 12 points.
East 7 9 14 10 — 40
ThunderRidge 14 8 18 15 — 55
East — Brame 2 1-6 5, Taylor 2 1-2 5, Wiese 1 0-0 2, Briscoe 2 0-0 6, Kelley 4 3-5 12, Lunka 0 0-0 0, Patterson 0 0-0 0, Henry 0 0-0 0, Adams 1 0-0 3, Brown 3 1-2 7. Totals 15 6-15 40.
ThunderRidge — Needles 5 7-10 21, McBain 2 1-2 5, Jelniker 5 2-2 13, Messer 4 2-2 12, Ludwig 0 0-3 0, Brady 0 0-0 0, Chase 0 0-0 0, Koslosky 0 0-0 0, Klein 0 0-0 0, Peterson 1 0-0 2, Rusk 1 0-0 2, Langas 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 12-19 55.
3-pt. goals — Briscoe 2, Kelley, Adams; Needles 4, Messer 2, Jelniker. Total fouls — East 20; ThunderRidge 19. Fouled out — Taylor; McBain, Jelniker. Technicals — None.Highlands Ranch 77, Rocky Mountain 50. The three-time defending champs took another step toward No. 4.
Meagan Fulps finished with a game-high 23 points and Janessa Burke had 20 for the Falcons (22-2).
Rocky Mountain (18-8) got a game-high 15 points and eight rebounds from Kara Spotton.
Rocky Mountain 10 19 8 13 — 50
Highlands Ranch 22 19 20 16 — 77
Rocky Mountain — Raasch 1 0-0 2, Gertz 2 2-3 6, Connolly 3 2-3 8, Spotton 7 1-2 15, Musante 3 0-0 6, Applegate 1 0-0 2, Rice 1 0-0 2, Johnson 0 2-4 2, Hunter 0 0-0 0, DeBord 0 0-1 0, Towne 0 0-0 0, Hartman 2 1-2 7. Totals 20 8-15 50.
Highlands Ranch — Fulps 7 5-7 23, Hawkins 4 0-0 8, Gill 1 0-0 2, Stark 0 3-4 3, Burke 9 1-2 20, Heap 1 0-0 2, Baker 0 0-0 0, Mallon 0 0-0 0, McDaniel 5 3-4 13, Flournoy 0 0-0 0, Neuhaus 0 0-0 0, Shumpert 1 4-6 6. Totals 28 16-23 77.
3-pt. goals — Hartman 2; Fulps 4, Burke. Total fouls — Rocky Mountain 18; Highlands Ranch 13. Fouled out — Connolly. Technicals — None.
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
