On March 13, 2016, Lakewood lost star player Mackenzie Forrest, a senior on their Great 8 team, in a car accident.
On Thursday night at the Denver Coliseum, almost exactly a year after her accident, the No. 9 Tigers (22-5) came out in warm-ups honoring Forrest as they’ve done all year and played with confidence and poise en route to an emotional 52-38 victory over No. 12 Cherry Creek.
“It’s crazy the emotions we had running before the game,” Lakewood coach Chris Poisson said. “Tonight we were in the same locker room as last year, so in those moments the emotions were huge. But to share in those moments with this group — because it’s their moment now — is the best feeling. Little Mac and my dad (an assistant who passed in the offseason), they’re here with us, too.”
The win earned the Tigers their first championship game appearance in program history. They will play No. 2 Grandview in the title game Saturday at 6:30 p.m., when the Wolves will also be playing for their first championship.
Cherry Creek (19-8) held a 17-12 advantage after one quarter, but Lakewood held the Bruins to just 15 points over the next two quarters to take a 38-32 lead heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter, Lakewood was able to make free throws, get quality looks on the offensive end and continually break the Cherry Creek press to put the game out of reach.
“We were able to cut back on turnovers in the second half, and our rebounding was tremendous,” Poisson said. “That led to us getting second looks, and that made the game a lot easier.”
Junior forward Camilla Emsbo paced the Tigers with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while junior guard Hannah Renstrom also had 13 and junior guard Jessica Woodhead chipped in 11 points.
The Bruins were paced by senior guard Delaney Bernard’s 14 points, and freshman point guard Jana Van Gytenbeek kept Cherry Creek in the game for most of the night with her scoring, ball handling and court vision.
