GOLDEN — As soon as the final buzzer sounded on Pueblo South’s 47-30 Class 4A quarterfinal win against Centaurus, senior guard Megan Garcia leapt into a teammate’s arms.
Garcia isn’t a starter for the Colts, but this was a win that Pueblo South owed to its bench.
With two of their three leading scorers in serious foul trouble by early in the third quarter, Pueblo South had to rely on its backups to hold off Centaurus and earn its first trip to the final four since the 1990s. With the win, Pueblo South improved to 26-0.
The Colts did it with leading scorer Mikala Gordon contributing only two points before fouling out with 4:30 remaining, and with post player Megan Patterson playing limited minutes after picking up her fourth foul early in the third quarter.
“We played an entire quarter without them both,” Pueblo South coach Shannan Lane said. “Some of our players off the bench really came through tonight. They understood that they didn’t necessarily need to come out and score, but they needed to play good defense and give those kids a breather on the bench to be ready to come back in.”
Garcia, who averages 7.8 points per game, scored a team-high 11 points, while backup forward Megan Valdez played solid defense in her most extended playing time of her career.
“We have great depth on our team,” said starting guard Kendra Jesik, who scored 10 points.
Pueblo South made it clear their game plan was to first outrun Centaurus, and then push them around. The Colts took a 14-5 lead after the first quarter after holding the Warriors to a single field goal.
“I think right from the beginning, they were up in us a little bit, and that kind of intimidated us,” said Centaurus coach Jeff Jackson.
The result was a physical and often-sloppy game rife with whistles. There were 39 fouls called — 23 against Pueblo South.
“This was a more physical game we’ve had this year, but that’s good for us, we don’t mind, we like to get tough, so that’s good for us,” Jesik said. “We just came out and played strong, and that helped us out.”
Lindsay H. Jones: 303-954-1262 or ljones@denverpost.com
