The Class 5A and Class 4A quarterfinal games for the Colorado high school girls state basketball tournaments took place Friday at the Denver Coliseum. Here’s what happened as both classes advanced to the Final Four next weekend.
Class 5A
No. 5 Arapahoe 53, No. 13 Fossil Ridge 46
Arapahoe trailed early against Fossil Ridge on Friday night inside the Denver Coliseum when help arrived in the student section. The Warriors rallied for a 53-46 victory to reach the Class 5A girls basketball semifinals.
Arapahoe was led by freshman guard Gianna Smith with 15 points and six rebounds. Junior guard Sydney White added 12 and five rebounds. But Arapahoe (20-6) didn’t pull away until midway in the first quarter when its late-arriving crowd showed up at the 4 p.m. tipoff.
The Warriors had a homecourt advantage from Centennial in comparison to the Sabercats’ long drive from Fort Collins.
“The energy went up,” White said. “I love it when they come.”
Fossil Ridge kept its deficit within single digits throughout the game. Sophomore power forward Ella Lavigne led all players with 16 points. But Arapahoe held off the Sabercats with clutch free throws. Smith didn’t miss from the stripe (4-4) with under two minutes left in regulation.
“It was really close,” Arapahoe head coach Jerry Knafelc said. “We’ve been in tough games against great teams. You build on those moments.”
Arapahoe will face the winner of No. 1 Valor Christian and No. 8 Chaparral on Thursday in the Final Four.
“It starts with defense and we played our butts off,” White said. “We just made the plays we know we can make and trusted each other. We have a deep bench. Those players came in and made a difference.” — Kyle Fredrickson
No. 3 Grandview 70, No. 6 Cherry Creek 38
The Grandview girls’ basketball program is headed to its seventh consecutive Final Four.
A lopsided 70-38 victory over Cherry Creek on Friday night at the Denver Coliseum cemented the Wolves’ place among prep hoops royalty in Colorado. Grandview (16-9) advances to meet No. 2 Highlands Ranch in the Final Four.
Grandview pulled away early behind the scoring efforts of senior guard Marya Hudgins, a Santa Clara signee, with a game-high 21 points. McDonald’s All-American center Lauren Betts, a Stanford signee, was undeterred on the block with a double-double (16 points and 16 rebounds).
Grandview is seeking its third girls’ basketball state championship in program history. The Wolves last won the Class 5A title in 2018. — Kyle Fredrickson
No. 2 Highlands Ranch 54, No. 7 Doherty 39
Through three quarters, Doherty gave favored Highlands Ranch all it could handle in the Class 5A Great 8.
But the Falcons flexed with a dominant fourth quarter to turn a close game into a 54-39 victory and Highlands Ranch’s 18th Final Four appearance.
The Falcons led 27-26 entering the final frame, but 26th-year coach Caryn Jarocki’s squad pulled away by outscoring the Spartans 27-13 over the final eight minutes. Highlands Ranch shot 2-of-10 from three-point in the first half, but five-of-eight in the second half.
“We finally hit some outside shots, and we were able to withstand their pressure,” Jarocki said. “We came out and played great defense to start the half… We gave them eight offensive rebounds in the first half, and that was killer. We give up those rebounds, it hurt our transition.”
Senior forward Alex Pirog (Montana commit) had a double-double with a game-high 17 points and 11 rebounds, while senior guard Emily Hovasse chipped in 16. As a team, Highlands Ranch managed to avoid traps as Doherty consistently double-teamed the ball down the stretch of the game.
Meanwhile, scrappy Doherty was paced by 13 points from senior point guard and Cal State University-East Bay commit Payton Sterk. Senior guard Brooke Mansanares had 10 points.
Both teams pushed the tempo early, with each offense playing sloppy and taking a while to settle in. Doherty had nine turnovers in the first half alone and 16 overall, while the Falcons finished with seven turnovers.
Sterk continually kept Doherty in the game, including on a Spartans run at the end of the second quarter that sent the teams into halftime tied 16-16.
“The message at half was, ‘Look, it’s 0-0, now we have to play great for 16 minutes,'” Jarocki said. “Our girls responded to that and we challenged them to win the rebound battle (in the second half).”
Continental League champion Highlands Ranch improved to 21-4 while Doherty, the Pikes Peak League champions, finished 22-4.
The Falcons, owners of seven Class 5A titles but none since 2011, now take on No. 3 Grandview in next week’s Final Four at the Denver Coliseum. Highlands Ranch’s lone in-state loss this year came to Valor Christian, 68-53 on Dec. 10.
“Grandview’s bigs are a huge concern, plus they have shooters, penetrators,” Jarocki said. “They’re the real deal. We’re going to have to play really well.”
Pirog believes the Falcons have grown a lot since that loss to Valor Christian, and will be ready for the challenge that 6-foot-7 forward Lauren Betts and the Wolves present.
“That (loss to Valor Christian) was so early in the season and we were still figuring out our defense, which has come so far since that point,” Pirog said. “And since then we’ve figured out how to move it inside-out (on offense), so that will be helpful.” — Kyle Newman
No. 1 Valor Christian 54, No. 8 Chaparral 44
The defending champs are still dancing.
Valor Christian dispatched Chaparral 54-44 in Friday’s Class 5A Great 8 finale at the Denver Coliseum, grinding out a win over a Wolverines team they blew out about three weeks prior. It booked the Eagles’ sixth Final Four appearance, and third straight in Class 5A.
Eagles senior center and Oregon State pledge Raegan Beers headlined with a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds). Junior guard Macey Huard also had 15 points and senior guard Mariah Hilliard had 13, while Chaparral was paced by 16 points from sophomore forward Reagan Lentell.
“We know that a lot of the attention is going to go to Reagan, and we know from the last time we played them they would sag off on ball side every single time,” Valor Christian coach Jessika Caldwell said. “It was hard to get her (clean looks) at the bucket, but we had some shooters on the outside to make them pay.”
In the waning minutes of the third quarter Huard had a three-pointer and an and-one, a six-point swing that contributed to Valor Christian opening up a 42-35 lead heading into the fourth.
“I took my chances to drive to the rim when it was open, because they sit like three defenders on Reagan because she’s a great player,” Huard said. “It gave me opportunities to score I don’t always have, and then when we did get it to (Beers), she stepped up big-time.”
Huard, daughter of former NFL quarterback Brock Huard, also had a three-pointer that iced the game with about 90 seconds left.
“(In my mind) I was like, ‘This one’s going in,'” Huard said of the late three-pointer. “I was confident and I believed it, because Reagan and I practice that pass and shot in practice all the time.”
Valor Christian pressed and trapped throughout the second half, while keeping Chaparral’s star twin sisters Payton and Avery Bang at bay. Payton had 11 points while Avery, who dealt with foul trouble, finished with two points and did not score until 2:40 left in the game. She fouled out 20 seconds later.
“I thought we did a really good job defending (the Bangs) tonight, but we allowed some threes to go up early,” Caldwell said. “Itap kind of pick your poison and we picked trying to take (the Bangs) away even though their guards came to play.”
The Eagles, who won consecutive Class 4A championships in 2015 and ’16, are seeking their fourth title overall in their fourth year in Class 5A. The Class 5A Jeffco League champions improved to 22-3 and will take on Arapahoe in next week’s Final Four.
Coach Tony Speights and Chaparral finished 18-7 in their second straight year in the Great 8. — Kyle Newman
Class 4A
No. 1 Windsor 63, No. 9 D’Evelyn 38
No. 5 Mead 64, No. 29 Severance 38
No. 2 Mullen 59, No. 7 Roosevelt 27
No. 6 Green Mountain 57, No. 3 Holy Family 45
Semifinal matchups:
No. 1 Windsor (25-0) vs. No. 5 Mead (21-5)
No. 2 Mullen (19-6) vs. No. 6 Green Mountain (24-2)
Class 3A
Tap here to see Class 3A Sweet 16 game results as well as schedules for the subsequent rounds.
Real-time tweets
Live updates, tweets, photos, analysis and more from the 2022 Colorado high school state basketball tournament on March 4, 2022.
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