HIGHLANDS RANCH — No, ThunderRidge won’t play all of its games this season against East.
It just looks that way.
After a season-opening loss to Ralston Valley, the Grizzlies beat East of Cheyenne, then East of Denver in the Fairview tournament.
On Friday night, they played Denver East again and earned their third victory, 63-58 in Class 5A nonleague. The first time ThunderRidge beat Denver East, it was 61-58.
“Yes, it seems like it,” Grizzlies coach Bill Bradley said of the matchups against East teams after his team improved to 3-1. “And it was physical.”
There were 51 fouls and 73 free throws attempted, and four players fouled out. The pace of the game was about as slow as C-470, the main artery to the game for city folks and it went along at a snail’s pace because of an accident. More than one fan arrived late.
No matter. ThunderRidge, which has one senior and basically is a team that’s starting over from a year ago, began to pull away in the second half as juniors Taylor Williams (24 points) and Reana Kaminsky (18) took control. Williams made 11-of-13 free throws for the Grizzlies, ranked No. 9 in The Denver Post 5A coaches poll, and Kaminsky drilled four 3-pointers.
“We played them last week and we just practiced and tried to be as physical as (the Angels) are,” Williams said.
The Grizzlies scrapped and battled inside and displayed toughness. Next, they head to Phoenix for a tournament.
As for East (5-3), coach Dwight Berry had a bright spot in Franny Sally, a 6-foot-1 junior who established an inside presence and scored a team-high 13 points. But poor shooting from the field — the Angels missed their first 12 shots in the third quarter) and even relatively worse from the free-throw line (22-of-43) — made it a head-scratcher.
“I’m just frustrated,” Berry said about what he called questionable officiating. “But Coach Bradley does a great job with his kids and we missed way too many free throws.”
Denver East: 14 20 7 17 — 58
ThunderRidge: 16 20 12 15 — 63
Denver East: Taylor 0 4-6 4, Roper 2 1-3 6, Peevy 3 3-6 9, Carey 2 2-5 6, Richardson 2 5-9 9, Jones 2 0-0 5, Cox 1 2-4 4, Warrior 1 0-2 2, Sally 4 5-8 13. Totals 17 22-43 58.
ThunderRidge: Kaminsky 6 2-2 18, Lantzy 1 1-3 4, Throop 1 1-2 3, Yoney 1 0-0 2, Chase 1 2-4 4, Williams 6 11-13 24, Porter 1 2-4 4, Zweifel 0 0-0 0, Reiner 1 2-2 4. Totals 18 21-30 63.
3-pt. goals: Roper, Jones; Kaminsky 2, Williams, Lantzy. Fouled out: Carey, Cox, Jones; Throop, Chase. Technicals: Sally.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
