BOULDER — An injured back kept Jamie Katuna off her game — until it mattered most.
The Longmont junior suffered through an atrocious shooting game Wednesday, clearly lacking arc and leaving everything short because of her sore and braced back.
But her timely 3-pointer put Longmont ahead of Mullen late in the fourth quarter, and her key free throws in the final minutes lifted the Trojans to a 49-40 victory in the Class 4A girls basketball semifinals at CU’s Coors Events Center.
“It’s holding up,” Katuna said of her back, which kept her out of the state quarterfinals against Cheyenne Mountain. “It’s not great. But it’s good enough, I guess.”
Longmont coach Jay Darien estimated that Katuna, who entered the game averaging 19.5 points, was about 70 percent healthy — an assessment that seemed accurate when Katuna made only one of her first seven shots. Then she drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing with 2:19 to play to put the Trojans up 40-39 and went on to score 13 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter, when Longmont outscored Mullen 23-10.
“I told Jamie, ‘Now is your time. You have to take this game over, and you have to get the ball into your hands,’ ” Darien said.
“Champions rise to the occasion, and she not only wanted to play offense, she wanted to stop (Mullen’s Bailey Holland) on defense.”
Junior forward Tambre Haddock also starred for Longmont (24-3) with 14 points and 12 rebounds. And teammate Hannah Kingsbury, like Katuna, saved her best for last, scoring eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter.
“I went up to Tambre and said, ‘You’re keeping us in this,’ ” Katuna said. “Her arms are up to the rim, and she’s like a guy the way she plays. She kept us alive through the first three quarters, and we got it for her in the fourth.”
Longmont converted 18-of-20 free throws in the final quarter, including 10-of-12 by Katuna, to help overcome a 17-point performance by Holland.
“We came out expecting to win, and we lost our intensity,” Holland said. “I think Katuna did real well handling the pressure. Even though she was having a bad game, she was always looking for the open player.”
Mullen (19-8), which led 30-26 entering the fourth quarter, ultimately was undone by 28.3 percent shooting.
Longmont plays Broomfield for the 4A title Friday. Broomfield won the teams’ regular-season meeting 42-37 on Jan. 19.
Longmont 10 8 8 23 — 49
Mullen 9 12 9 10 — 40
Longmont — Carpenter 2 0-3 4, Katuna 2 10-12 15, Kingsbury 3 4-4 10, Van Thyne 1 0-0 2, Meier 0 2-3 2, Arguello 1 0-0 2, Haddock 3 8-8 14, Thornholt 0 0-0 0, Fallon 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 24-30 49.
Mullen — Hess 4 0-0 8, Richardson 2 0-0 5, Thompson 1 1-2 3, Burt 0 0-0 0, Curneen 0 2-2 2, Holland 5 7-10 17, Becker 0 0-0 0, Scott-Benson 1 3-4 5, Camy 0 0-0 0, O’Rourke 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 13-18 40.
3-point goals: Katuna; Richardson.
