(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Basketball championships are closer to being won. That was evidenced on Sunday as the state basketball brackets for the Class 3A boys and girls were released.

Kent Denver enters the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed for the boys. The Sun Devils beat Manual in the final of the Metro League district tournament and took over the top spot in the RPI as a result.

Sterling is the top seed on the girls side. The Tigers are still undefeated and beat Liberty Common 52-39 in the final of the Patriot League tournament.

For the boys, Manitou Springs takes the No. 2 spot, coming off a tough overtime loss to Colorado Springs Christian School in the Tri-Peaks final. The Lions are right behind their rivals at No. 3. They’re in search of their third-straight state title.

The Mustangs are the only non-district winner that will serve as a host site for the first two rounds of the tournament. They had remained at No. 1 in RPI at the end of the regular season, but were overtaken by Kent Denver after districts.

CSCS, Resurrection Christian, Bayfield, DSST-Stapleton, Coal Ridge and DSST-Green Valley Ranch will serve as the other host sites.

Defending girls champion Lutheran is seeded 15th and will travel to Centauri to play Grand Valley in the first round. Centauri beat Pagosa Springs in the Intermountain district final to take the No. 2 spot in the bracket.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

In a similar situation that the boys are in, the Tri-Peaks district runner up is sitting one spot higher than the champion.

CSCS beat Lamar in the girls final on Saturday, but it’s the Savages who enter the tournament at No. 3 with the Lions taking the No. 4 spot.

The Tri-Peaks League has two teams hosting for both the boys and girls brackets.

Faith Christian, Moffat County, The Academy and Weld Central all won their district tournaments and will serve as hosts next weekend.

The 3A state basketball tournaments will begin on Friday with the Sweet 16 rounds following them up on Saturday.

The eight teams to come out of that round will head to DU for the remainder of the state basketball tournament beginning Mar. 9.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

PUEBLO — Big players make big plays. That’s what Canon City girls basketball coach Dan Heath said after Friday night’s game, but he would’ve preferred it if he was talking about one of his own players.

He was complimenting the play of Pueblo East’s Kayla Albo who seemingly couldn’t miss. And because of that, the Eagles came away with a 56-43 win to advance to the Sweet 16 of the Class 4A girls basketball tournament.

“She hit two threes in a row when it was a tie game,” Heath said. “We couldn’t recover from that.”

But it wasn’t just one point in the game where she knocked down a couple of shots. Albo was the catalyst for the 10th-seeded Eagles (17-7 overall) from the start. She scored the first 12 points for the Eagles, with all of them coming from behind the arc.

But the No. 42 Tigers (11-14) weren’t going to be that easy to beat. They tried to pressure East offensively and their efforts were rewarded with foul calls. Salik Winston and Chazz Padula were each hit with two fouls in the first quarter, forcing East to adjust their usual approach to the game.

“We preach that in the playoffs, they’re going to get called,” Eagles coach Angie Gorham said. “Those reaches that don’t get called are going to get called. The Pueblo refs let us play and in the playoffs, they call those.”

But it helped to have Albo knocking down everything in sight. She finished with a game-high 26 points, 12 better than her season average.

“They came out in a 2-3 and we weren’t getting very many open looks,” Albo said. “I just felt like I had to score a couple of points really fast to get us the lead and kick up our momentum.”

The teams traded lead changes throughout the first half, but the Eagles were able to go on a 9-0 run in the second to finally seize some of that momentum that Albo referenced. They went into halftime with a two-point lead, but it still wasn’t going to be easy to put the Tigers away.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Canon City got a lift from Katie Till and Jerika Moore to fight back from a six-point deficit. It was a basket by Moore that evened the score at 35.

But as long as Albo was able to shoot, East had the advantage. She knocked down two 3-pointers to put the Eagles up by six.

The Tigers got one of those triples back, but Albo immediately countered and East never looked back.

“I felt like I did my part and everyone else did their part,” Albo said. “(We) boxed out well, pushed the ball up the court well and overall as a team, we played really well today.”

But there are still things that can be worked on. The Eagles shot 50 percent from the free throw line, and were right around that percentage late in the fourth quarter. Gorham knows that if her team is going to keep advancing, they have to be better.

“That’s been a constant battle against Pueblo West, against South, against the better teams in our league,” she said. “It’s still a battle we’re fighting.”

But they live to fight another day. They advance to Tuesday’s Sweet 16, keeping their state title chances alive and well.

More photos (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Vail Mountain swept the state skiing championships, capping off a two-day meet by bringing home hardware rarely seen in the school.

It is the first-ever title for the school’s girls ski team. The boys, meanwhile, have won just once before — in 1991.

The feat was made more impressive given that the program won just two of the eight individual events — both girls races in the nordic discipline. But the all-around strength of both teams carried the Gore Rangers to the championships.

The championships are the fourth and fifth in school history. The boys title is just the second male championship in any sport for the school. The only other titles have been won by the girls soccer team.

Friday’s performance continued what Vail Mountain started on Thursday, when the boys jumped out ahead to lead the field, and the girls sat just five points back in second place.

The Gore Rangers’ boys finished with 671 total points, well ahead of second-place Battle Mountain (577 points) and third-place Aspen (567). Summit (560) finished in fourth, and host Steamboat Springs (540) was fifth.

Vail Mountain’s girls won a nail-biter: They finished with 610 points, edging both Battle Mountain (606) and Aspen (604). Colorado Rocky Mountain finished in fourth place with 507 points, and Summit (500) was fifth.

Friday’s events consisted of the slalom and nordic classic at Howelsen Hill in downtown Steamboat.

Trinity Chelain. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Battle Mountain’s Trinity Chelain won the girls slalom with a two-run total of 1:35.52. She had finished 12th in the giant slalom on Thursday.

Aspen’s Margo McHugh was second to Chelain in the slalom (1:36.5), and Battle Mountain’s Haley Frischholz (1:36.55) was third.

Vail Mountain’s Whitney Merriman helped her team with a sixth-place finish that gave her team 55 points in the event.

But it was in the nordic classic where the Gore Rangers picked up their title.

Bridget and Maddie Donovan finished first and second in the event, amassing 119 points between the two. Teammate Lyle Shipp was sixth, adding another 55 points, for an event total of 174 points that provided the final four-point edge.

Andrew McCawley. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

The boys slalom saw hometown senior Andrew McCawley of Steamboat Springs win the event in 1:26.15. Both of his runs were the fastest of the field. He finished eighth in the GS on Thursday.

Aspen’s Trey Thorpe (1:27.94) was second, and Vail Mountain’s Michael Resnick (1:28.36) finished third.

Vail Mountain also had Shane Cole place fifth, and Peer Carners finish sixth, giving them an event-best 169 points.

Battle Mountain’s Franklin Reilly won the boys nordic classic, ahead of Vail Mountain teammates Cameron Wolfe and Peter Littman. The Gore Rangers also had Ian Hardenbergh place sixth — again leading the event with 171 points.

In fact, Vail Mountain’s boys had the highest point total in each of the four events over the two-day championships.

The ski league also announced its season-long awards on Friday night at the banquet held at Steamboat Springs High School. Haley Frischholz of Battle Mountain was named the girls skimeister, while Andrew McCawley of Steamboat Springs was the girls skimeister.

Haley Frischholz. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — The 2017 state skiing championships concluded on Friday afternoon, crowning both boys and girls champions.

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D’Evelyn junior Angi Reed sets up for a 3-pointer during the Jaguars’ 55-45 win over Falcon. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletic)

DENVER — The three keys to success for D’Evelyn’s girls basketball team is tempo, tempo and tempo — the quicker, the better for the Jaguars.

That held true Friday night as 15th-seeded D’Evelyn advanced into the round of 16 of the Class 4A state tournament with a 55-45 home victory over No. 18 Falcon. The Jaguars and Falcons were tied at halftime 30-30, but D’Evelyn figured Falcon wouldn’t match the six 3-pointers it made in the first half and the up-tempo pace would eventually favor the Jaguars.

“That’s our style every year,” D’Evelyn junior Angi Reed said. “At halftime coach (Chris Olson) said there was no way they could keep shooting like this and keep running with us. We trusted the process.”

D’Evelyn’s Tori Szathmary, left, attempt to get off a shot. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

D’Evelyn senior Jill Smith opened the second half with a 3-pointer from the corner 10 seconds into the third quarter to give the Jaguars (17-7 overall) the lead, which it would never give up. After a slow start, Smith heated up in the third quarter scoring 11 of her 14 points.

“When she (Smith) gets going it really changes what the defense does,” Olson said. “Angi and Payton (Sampson) can drive to the basket. That’s important for us.”

Smith scored all but three of the Jaguars’ points in the critical third quarter. However, she did assist on D’Evelyn’s only other bucket in the quarter. In a designed play for Smith to take a jumper at the free-throw line, Smith kicked it back out to Reed for a deep, but wide-open 3-pointer.

Reed, who finished with 17 points, drained the long 3-pointer to give D’Evelyn a 40-35 lead with 2:30 left in the third quarter.

“I wasn’t surprised. We are all unselfish,” Reed said of Smith kicking the ball back out to her. “We are looking for the best shot, not a good shot.”

Junior Bailey Marvel (11 points) and sophomore Tori Szathmary (seven points) had strong games battling down low with Falcon senior Jade Adams. The Falcons’ 5-foot-11 post player finished with nine points before fouling out with 2 minutes to play.

D’Evelyn’s Izzy Lopez, left, goes up for a shot Friday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

Senior Hanna Diaz finished with a game-high 18 points for Falcon (17-8), as the Falcons’ season came to a close. D’Evelyn held Falcon to just four made field goals and 15 points in the second half.

Falcon came into Friday’s game having won 6-of-7 games. The Falcons also had a quality victory over Valor Christian on the season. Falcon defeated the 2-time defending state champions by a dozen points Dec. 22.

D’Evelyn placed fourth in the deep 4A Jeffco League this year. The Jaguars, along with conference rivals No. 3 Evergreen, No. 6 Valor Christian and No. 9 Golden all grabbed first-round byes. All four advanced into next week’s round of 16.

Next up for D’Evelyn is No. 2 Pueblo West (21-3). The game will be played Tuesday, Feb. 28, in Pueblo.

The Jaguars and Cyclones have plenty of playoff history. D’Evelyn defeated Pueblo West in overtime last season in the opening round of the state tournament. In 2014 the Jaguars defeated the Cyclones in the Sweet 16 and in 2013 D’Evelyn got the better of Pueblo West in the state semifinals.

“I’m excited. We are kind of rivals, I guess,” Smith said of another postseason battle against Pueblo West. “We beat them in overtime last year and we always play them over the summer. I’m excited to play them.”

Pueblo West is on a nine-game winning streak, including a 30-point victory over Greeley Central on Friday night.

“We’ll go down there and give them a great game,” Olson said. “We’ll see what we can do.”

D’Evelyn senior Jill Smith beats Falcon’s defense down the court for a 2nd-half layup. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

BROOMFIELD — Isabelle Hren scored 16 points, helping Holy Family beat Mullen 48-37 and advance to the Sweet 16 of the Class 4A girls basketball tournament.

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ENGLEWOOD — Danny Taggart scored twice, giving Cherry Creek more than enough as the Bruins beat Battle Mountain 4-0 to advance to the state hockey quarterfinals.

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LITTLETON — Dakota Ridge was losing 1-0, but scored five unanswered to beat Ralston Valley 5-1 and move on to the state hockey quarterfinals.

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ARVADA — Samantha Van Sickle led the way with 19 points and Ralston Valley advanced to the Class 5A Sweet 16 with a 89-46 win over Rangeview.

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DENVER — George Washington beat Thomas Jefferson in the Class 4A girls basketball tournament, 55-48. The Patriots move on to face Valor Christian in the sweet sixteen.

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