Rob Graham is Grandview’s next volleyball coach. (Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)
Grandview has hired Ponderosa coach Rob Graham to lead its volleyball team.
Wolves athletic director Jamee Ulitzky announced the move on Friday afternoon. Graham has been Ponderosa’s volleyball coach for 16 seasons, and built a powerful program at the Class 4A level. The Mustangs were runner-up two seasons ago, and have won at least 20 matches four times in the past seven seasons.
Ponderosa went 20-8 last season, and lost in the 4A semifinals.
He’ll take over another power program in Grandview, which won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015. Longtime Wolves coach Patty Childress, one of the state’s best volleyball coaches, retired after the season. Childress was 493-169 in her career.
“Coach Graham brings with him an extensive background in coaching,” Ulitzky said in announcing the hire. “We look forward to the future of the Grandview Volleyball program under his leadership.”
The Wolves lost six seniors after the 2015 season, but return an experienced roster that includes Libero and captain Raychel Reed.
The Wolves got through regionals in their hunt for a three-peat and were one of three teams locked in a crazy 5A tie-breaker to get out of pool play in the state tournament.
It would be Denver East who came out of the tie-breaker and Cherokee Trail was the team who eventually walked away with the 5A title.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Cal Zeb Roberson knew exactly what Rampart needed and when to deliver it.
He scored 12 of his game-high 21 points as the Rams topped Loveland 55-41 to advance to the second round of the Class 5A state tournament.
The Rams (17-7 overall) will play Cherry Creek Saturday with a chance to move on to the Sweet 16.
“I just came out and they left me open,” Roberson said. “It’s nothing I did, my teammates were the ones who got me open for those.”
He started the game by knocking down a couple of early 3-pointers to give Rampart a fast lead. The Indians struggled to put up points early, only registering three field goals through the first quarter.
But for the Indians (5-19), it was all about what shots weren’t falling. With a chance to keep the game tight, Loveland struggled at the free throw line, hitting only three of 11 attempts from the charity stripe, which put them in a 30-20 hole at the half.
“It was pretty much a 10-point ballgame the entire way,” Loveland coach Adam Anderson said. “It definitely affected us. I feel like if we made half of those, and we cut it to five, we have a chance.”
In the second half, just when it seemed like the Indians were gaining momentum, Roberson would get the Rampart crowd back into it with a breakaway dunk. But as the crowd rose to its feet, Roberson fell onto his backside, causing a very brief moment of silence.
“I was just going to fast and didn’t want to hang on the rim and get a technical,” he said. “It happens, but I guess as long as I put it in the hoop, I guess that’s okay.”
That slam increased the lead to 40-24 and gave the Rams total control for the rest of the way. The Indians were able to pull back to within 10, but another Roberson fast break dunk pushed the lead to 46-34 all but wrapping the game up.
For the Rams, it was a good win to get into the feel of the state tournament and they feel as though it will help them in the next round of the tournament.
“For the team that we have this year, this is perfect for us,” Rampart coach J’on St. Clair said. “We get a chance to play and we get the playoff jitters out. Last year our team earned a really good seed and that’s where I feel where we needed to be, but this is a different team.”
The Rams will get back to work on Thursday and have two days of practice before heading up to Cherry Creek for their next game.
And the players like that they’re now in the groove. To them, it’s a lot better than a full week of just going through the motions.
“Tonight wasn’t the best game,” Roberson said. “But we’re in the playoffs now and a win is a win. We have a little more experience now (this year) than they do.”
The 8th-seeded Chaparral Wolverines (8-15 overall) played host to No. 9 Broomfield (16-7) Wednesday night and the Wolverines defeated the Eagles 66-60 through relentless hustle and clutch playmaking down the stretch.
With three freshman anchoring the Chaparral starting five, it was unclear just how this young Wolverines team would respond in the postseason.
In the end, they responded.
“We really rely on our freshman a lot. It’s big task asking 14- and 15-year-olds to step up, but they’ve been stepping up all season,” Wolverine senior Dominic Coleman said. “They played great tonight.”
Broomfield came into the contest with nine upperclassmen out of the 12 total players on their roster, six of those nine being seniors. Despite the disadvantage when it comes to veteran presence, Wolverine coach Tellus Truesdale didn’t let that faze his team one bit.
“Our kids play hard and that’s the main thing that we preach,” Truesdale said. “It doesn’t matter who we play and our freshman have been (playing hard) all year long.
“I don’t think we played our best game, but we played good enough. When it comes tournament time, to survive and advance, you’ll take the win any way you can get it.”
There’s no denying Broomfield made plays throughout the contest, but the plays that needed to be made in crucial moments weren’t, resulting in a frustrating night for coach Terrence Dunn and his team. But credit must be given to the Wolverines, as they were the reason for such a disappointing effort.
Even though the game remained close throughout its entirety, Chaparral had control from the opening tip as they won on early and often on the boards, hustled for loose balls and second chances offensively, while also disrupting the Eagles’ offense all night with their length and size on the perimeter.
Broomfield managed to keep with in arms reach throughout the duration of the game, thanks to junior Sam Foster and senior Jack Burgesser, who both put up 17 points apiece. Then again, the 6-foot-6 Burgesser seemed to be the only lethal threat to the Wolverines in the game as they had no answer for the pick-and-pop action where he delivered the majority of his points behind the arc.
In the final three-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter, Broomfield found a way to cut the deficit to three. After back-and-forth turnovers between both teams, Chaparral needed to get a stop defensively as they game struck the two-minute point.
That’s when the senior Coleman, who had a game-high 21 points, took over.
Coleman disrupted a pick-and-roll sequence between Foster and Burgesser, getting his hand on the ball, ultimately freeing him up for a one-on-one transition chance versus the Broomfield big. He created contact as he went up for the contested layup, sinking the shot and the ensuing free throw, sealing the game for the Wolverines.
Up next Chaparral will take on one of the best teams in the state, one that held the CHSAANow.com 5A top ranking for much of the season, in Rangeview. But neither coaches, nor players are shying away from upcoming battle.
“I know that they’re a tough matchup for us, they play really well together,” Truesdale said. “We know we’re going to have our hands full and we’re going to have to take care of the basketball, share the ball, and play better defensively.”
COLORADO SPRINGS — Liberty’s TJ Clark hit the game-winning shot to give No. 8 Liberty boys basketball a 54-52 win over No. 9 Westminster on Wednesday in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament.
DENVER — Ridge View Academy advanced to the finals of the Confluence League district tournament with a 63-59 win over Eagle Ridge Academy on Wednesday.
BOULDER — Fifth-seeded Fairview girls basketball got off to a good start in the Class 5A state tournament.
The Knights pulled out a 61-44 victory over No. 12 Eaglecrest on Tuesday night.
From the start of the game to the very end, it was the Fairview offense that took the game over. The Knights were able to effectively swing the ball around the perimeter, finding open looks all night long.
It took Eaglecrest 6:55 to put its first point on the board. By that time, Fairview had jumped out to an 11-0 lead, and the points kept coming throughout the game.
At the end of the first quarter the Lady Knights were up 15-4 over the Raptors.
It was the glass work that helped Fairview maintain a double-digit lead the entire night. Junior Grace O’Neil led Fairview with 21 points, more than half of them coming off second-chance offensive rebounds.
The second quarter couldn’t have started off any better, asFairview’s leading scorer on the season Ashley Panem finally found her groove, knocking down an early 3-pointer.
It became evident early in the second quarter that Fairview came in with an offensive plan, and that plan was well executed. It was able to exploit Eaglecrest’s defense with the dribble-drive penetration and kicking the ball out to find open players.
Fairview doubled its first half points alone in the second quarter and the offense wasn’t done yet. They led 31-13 at halftime.
Eaglecrest coach Tim Brennan gave credit to Fairview and how its offense played against his girls.
“They are well coached, very senior-heavy and it shows that they have played together for an awful long time,” Brennan said.
But Fairview can’t attribute the win solely to its offense, as it was able to force 19 Eaglecrest 19 turnovers. Eaglecrest constantly found itself being double teamed in the post, and that ultimately led to bad passes and missed opportunities.
“We feel like we can handle pressure pretty well,” Brennan said about the constant double team. “When we did break their press, though, at least in the first half, we were turning the ball over quite a bit.”
Not only did the double team in the post provide trouble for Eaglecrest but Fairview’s fast traps and man defense seemed to give them some trouble as well.
“I thought they did a great job, we were able to get a few traps and our rotations were there,” Fairview coach Rod Beauchamp said of his team. “We were able to convert in transition off of it.”
With the fast pace that the Knights provided, Eaglecrest hit foul trouble early. The Raptors had six team fouls in the first half and eight in the second half. This gave Fairview the edge in the free throw game, making 10-of-13 from the line. Eaglecrest was 4-of-8.
It seemed as though Fairview’s offense gained more confidence as the game wore on, never allowing Eaglecrest to catch up.
It also provided Fairview a boost heading into the next round, when the Knights will take on No. 4 Brighton this Friday. Brighton had a first-round bye.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Palmer senior Bailey Smith couldn’t have picked a better time to improve her team’s free throw percentage.
She sank all six of her fourth quarter shots from the charity stripe to help the Terrors seal a 41-26 win over Rock Canyon in the first round of the girls Class 5A state playoffs.
“I just know that my team needed me and needed those free throws,” Smith said. “We were struggling there so my focus was that we needed these in order to survive.”
And survive they did, despite going 18-34 as a team from the free-throw line.
The 8th-seeded Terrors (10-14 overall) will now travel to Lakewood to face the Tigers who are the top seed in the Alice Barron region of the state tournament.
The Jaguars (7-17) are now tasked with turning an eye to next season, something that will have to come once they’re over the shock of this season coming to an end on the road.
“(I tell them) that we keep working,” Rock Canyon coach Becky Mudd said. “This group has done a great job of buying in all year to the idea that we’re going to be a team and we’re going to work together.”
That exactly how the Jaguars were able to hang with Palmer through the duration of the game. They fell behind early, but kept chipping away at Palmer’s lead, doing everything they could to completely close the gap.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Terrors held a 29-20 lead, but Rock Canyon quickly cut the lead to five thanks to field goals from Katie DiDonna and Julia Doherty. DiDonna led the Jaguars with 10 points on the night.
The run was stopped by Abi Torres-Drozd who connected on her first field goal since the first quarter to give Palmer a 31-24 lead, killing any momentum for Rock Canyon.
Torres-Drozd scored 10 of her game-high 13 points in the first quarter before going cold for the rest of the game.
“I was just kind of going for it,” she said. “I was just playing the game I love, I wasn’t thinking about the game itself so much, I was just going out there and doing my best.”
Palmer would add 10 more points to their total and limit Rock Canyon to only two free throws from DiDonna to come away with a win.
In any one-and-done format, the first win is always the most crucial and Palmer coach Dave Shackelford was very aware of that being the case Tuesday night, even if he knew the Terrors’ win was a tad uglier than he would like to see.
“It is (nice to win the first one), no matter how it’s done,” he said. “Abi was a big part of that as her first five or seven points were a big key for us to start. It was steady after that until Bailey stepped up and hit those free throws.”
Palmer will get back to work on Wednesday and will have two full days of practice before their second round game with the Tigers. Even after the win Tuesday night, the Terrors know they have their work cut out for them.
“We need to be tighter on defense,” Smith said. “There’s a few offensive plays that we need to start working and we need to limit our turnovers and work on some fundamentals.”
AURORA — After a tough loss to Arapahoe to close out the regular season, Cherokee Trail coach Jerry Austin and his veteran Cougar squad knew they had to come into Tuesday’s game against Gateway focused and ready to send a message.
After a close first half that saw both teams start off hot shooting the basketball, particularly from three-point land, the Cougars were eventually able to gain control of the game and finish strong, earning a 72-47 win over the Olympians to advance in the Class 5A state playoffs.
“Friday’s loss was actually really hard on us so we knew we had to come in and dominate the game,” Cherokee Trail senior Jaleesa Avery said.
Avery helped set the pace for the Cougars (15-9 overall) with 15 points on the night.
The Olympians (10-14) played inspired basketball in the first half, putting pressure on Cherokee Trail to perform and making the game close.
Part of the reason the game was close early on was due to the incredible shooting display put on by Gateway’s leading scorer for the year in senior Carmen Ramey, who finished the night with a game-high 21 points.
“In the first half, Ramey hit some great shots, having 19 points in the first half which made a big difference in the game,” Austin said. “And we figured in the second half, she wasn’t going to shoot that well and we could get back into control of the game.”
Ramey’s 19-point first half was largely created by her scoring outburst in the second quarter as she was responsible for eight points (six coming from long range) on her team’s 9-3 scoring run to start the second period; in addition, to producing 14 points overall in the quarter.
Austin’s halftime prediction came to fruition as Ramey went cold the rest of the game, only scoring two more points the rest of the way.
“We started off a little slow, but we knew this was a team we could get past and it wasn’t anything that we couldn’t handle,” junior Taryn Foxen said. “We just had to make sure we came out harder in the second half and work together as a team.”
And that they did as Cherokee Trail managed to blow open the game in the second half, not only by eliminating Ramey’s impact, but through an abundance of turnovers and domination on the boards to allow for second and third chances offensively for the Cougars.
Foxen led the Cougars’ scoring effort with 19 points.
By the fourth quarter, the game became a track meet for Cherokee Trail as almost every possession they were on defense progressed into a forced error by Gateway allowing the Cougars to get out into transition for an easy two.
After disposing of the Olympians to begin their tournament run, Cherokee Trail remains focused on the next task at hand, which is Pine Creek in a second round game Friday. Yet, that isn’t to say that this Cougar team doesn’t have their sights set on the bigger picture which is a 5A state title.
“(If we) continue to play hard and as a team and if we don’t’ give up on each other while going at team’s the way we have been all year, we have a chance,” Avery said.
But before they can achieve such a satisfying accomplishment, they must take care of business against Pine Creek and coach Austin knows the type of problem the Spartans present.
“They’re a good basketball team,” Austin said. “They press and they do a lot of good things”
LITTLETON — No. 5 Dakota Ridge girls basketball beat No. 12 Boulder 68-35 in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament on Tuesday.
“A very unselfish game tonight,” Dakota Ridge coach Diane Thompson said after the game. “We have a pretty strong core of seniors.”
“We allowed mistakes and turnovers to take us out of our game,” Boulder coach Sara Klippert said. “We didn’t adjust to Dakota Ridge’s pressure and defense.”
Dakota Ridge advances to face No. 4 seed George Washington in the second round on Friday.
