PUEBLO — People inside and outside the Akron girls basketball program never realistically thought this was possible.
The youthful Akron squad, however, defied the odds by upsetting Kiowa 52-39 on Friday in a Class 2A semifinal game at Massari Arena at Colorado State-Pueblo.
“I thought we would get better every day and make it to state, but I’m shocked that we are playing for the state championship,” said first-year Akron coach Rick Agan, who has just one senior on his team. “I have a real young team, but I have a lot of good athletes. They all stepped up tonight and played great.”
Akron ran its record to 21-4 and advanced to the championship game at 5:15 p.m. today against Paonia (24-2), which beat Sangre de Cristo in the other semifinal.
“We just couldn’t get any kind of rhythm in this game,” Kiowa coach Josh Schneider said. “There were a lot of fouls, and we also missed a lot of shots. We didn’t capitalize when we had opportunities, and Akron did, give them credit.”
Akron held a 25-22 halftime edge, thanks to seven points by point guard Sydney Clarkson, who had a game-high 19 points.
Clarkson picked up her fourth foul at 3:04 of the third quarter, but even with her on the bench, Akron didn’t miss a beat. Rochelle Boyce hit a 3-pointer for a 37-26 lead at 1:02 of the third, and Kiowa (23-3) got no closer than nine points.
Paonia 36, Sangre de Cristo 32
• In search of its first state title, Paonia held off a pesky Sangre team. Paonia (24-2) is back in the title game after losing last year to Wray.
Sangre’s Kaily Yarbrough hit a jumper with 29 seconds left to get within 35-32. Sangre then forced a turnover with 27.3 seconds left, but Yarbrough had a 3-point attempt bounce off the back of the iron.
On the next possession, Paonia’s Johanna Reed was fouled and she made one of two free throws to make it 36-32 with 14.4 seconds left.
“We had a good look at the 3-pointer and Kaily’s shot was just a little off the mark,” Sangre coach Brandon Brubacher said. “You hate to lose a game this way. It is tough to take.”
