BROOMFIELD — The Legacy public address announcer was getting a little ahead of himself Tuesday when he labeled the Lightning’s girls basketball team as the second-ranked team in the state during pregame introductions.
But make no mistake — the Lightning is on the rise.
A preseason No. 9 in Class 5A, Legacy knocked off fifth-ranked Monarch 58-56 and improved to 8-0. That means the Lightning could vault to No. 4 or No. 5 when The Denver Post/9News poll is released Thursday.
Kailey Edwards drilled two free throws with 12 seconds left to tip the scales for the Lightning after Monarch’s Alex Evans scored eight straight points for the Coyotes (5-2) to tie it 56-56. Edwards was trapped in the backcourt by two Monarch defenders when Rebecca Richmond was called for a foul, sending Edwards to the line for the pressure foul shots.
“There was a little bit of a tickle, but I knew if I went up there confident, I’d finish confident,” Edwards said.
But was it a foul, Kailey?
“A foul is a foul,” she said, diplomatically. “You can’t change what the ref calls.”
Richmond believed no contact was committed and that the foul “was kind of bogus, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Said Monarch coach Gail Hook: “It was physical the whole game, then to have a call like that . . . Well, that’s just the way it goes. We should have done some things where we didn’t put ourselves in that position.”
Legacy center Carli Moreland had 17 points. Evans led Monarch with 15 points.
Monarch 16 17 8 15 — 56
Legacy 9 16 22 11 — 58
Monarch — Richmond 3 3-4 11, Evans 4 6-8 15, Normen 2 2-2 6, Harder 1 0-0 2, Johnson 4 6-7 14, Stanford 0 0-0 0, Davis 1 0-2 2, O’Brien 3 0-0 6, Stimac 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 17-23 56.
Legacy — Leister 5 0-0 12, Moreland 7 3-4 17, Edwards 4 3-6 12, Noonan 3 2-5 8, Dunahay 0 0-0 0, Akindele 3 2-4 8, Eisler 0 1-2 1, Torrez 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 11-21 58. 3-point goals — Richmond 2, Evans; Leister 2, Edwards.
