BOULDER — The tidal wave that is Broomfield girls basketball has devastated the classification and may not have crested.
After dismantling a once- beaten Conifer team 59-32 on Wednesday night in the Class 4A final four at the University of Colorado’s Coors Events Center, the three-time defending champion Eagles will be attempting to match Lamar’s title reign from 1995-98 through a series of gawdy numbers, the best in the era.
Now 26-1, the Eagles won their 23rd game in succession to make them 132-5 over five seasons.
And save for a slower start, their defense was virtually airtight — the Lobos, who ended 25-2, missed their first 15 shots, did not score a basket until 5:20 remained in the second quarter and made just four field goals over the game’s first 24 minutes. Conifer also had 24 turnovers against Broomfield’s sticky press and traps.
“That’s why we work so hard on our defense,” said Eagles senior guard Sarah Hix, who has a rare opportunity to become a four-time state champion. “If our offense isn’t going, we can always count on our defense to get us going.”
It was as if the Eagles carpeted the Lobos before getting into a flow of running and executing high-low passing in the paint in addition to beating Conifer off the backboards.
A series of follow-ups as well as isolating assorted Eagles down low quickly moved their lead from 10-5 after a quarter to 31-14 at halftime and 52-21 after three quarters. Broomfield’s biggest bulge reached 35 points.
“It took a little while for us to get started,” Eagles coach Mike Croell said. “Instead of screening (a defender), we were like two ships passing in the night, and the defense came along with it.”
But once it did, the Lobos had no answers. And Croell knew Broomfield had to contain Alison Gorrell, Conifer’s standout junior.
“Once she touched the ball,” Croell said, “it was a red alert.”
The Eagles responded by permitting only eight field goals, four by Gorrell, who scored 14 points.
Conifer had one of those dreaded shooting nights (18 percent), and all coach Jon Marston could do was watch.
“We had a lot of bunnies that we missed,” he said. “We just struggled shooting it.”
Broomfield picked up the pace in the middle quarters with 42 points.
Conifer 5 9 7 11 — 32
Broomfield 10 21 21 7 — 59
Conifer — Walderman 1 2-4 4, Sears 1 1-2 3, Gorrell 4 5-6 14, Mohrman 0 4-4 4, Miller 1 1-1 3, Ellerman 0 2-2 2, Noriega 0 0-0 0, Vaggalis 0 0-0 0, Taney 0 0-0 0, Lederhos 1 0-0 2, DeFino 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 15-19 32.
Broomfield — Chase 1 0-0 3, Hix 6 0-0 14, Waters 5 5-6 15, Reeves 1 0-0 3, Burgesser 0 2-4 2, Medema 3 0-0 6, Nehf 4 2-2 10, Bradfield 0 0-0 0, Zec 3 0-0 6, Rynearson 0 0-0 0, Prins 0 0-0 0, Schreter 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 9-12 59.
3-point goals: Gorrell; Hix 2, Chase, Reeves.
