CHSAANow

Month: March 2017

  • 3A girls hoops Final 4 roundup: Buzzer-beater launches Lamar into title game

    (Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)
    (Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)

    DENVER – Cali Clark may only be a freshman, but she’s already learned it’s best to have a short memory.

    Just a few seconds removed from missing a big 3-pointer in the Class 3A state semifinals Friday afternoon, Clark and her Lamar teammates got a second chance. Trailing by two points, a long pass found its way into Clark’s hands. The freshman spotted up and launched a prayer that found nothing but net, giving the Savages a stunning 26-25 victory over Centauri at Hamilton Gym at the University of Denver.

    No. 3 Lamar advanced to its first 3A championship game since 2004, where the Savages (24-2) will play fourth-seeded and Tri-Peaks League rival Colorado Springs Christian at 4 p.m. at DU.

    “We have covenants for our team. Everyone’s equal on our team,” Lamar coach Erik Melgoza said. “We believe in each other. Even though she missed that shot, I really feel like everybody on the team knew that she would make that shot.”

    Lamar trailed 24-20 before Cassie Forgue hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game with a little more than three minutes remaining.

    Centauri (23-2) hit a free throw with 37.2 seconds to go, but Clark missed an open look. The Falcons missed the front end of a 1-and-1 though, and the ball found its way up the court to Clark. The freshman did the rest.

    “I really wasn’t sure,” Clark said when asked if she thought it was good. “I’m really glad it did though. Once it left my hand I had a good feeling about it.”

    Centauri saw its season end in the semifinals for the second year in a row. But the Falcons – whose only two losses this season came to Lamar – don’t have a single senior on the roster.

    “First of all, that’s a great team,” Melgoza said. “Dave Forster is one of the greatest coaches in Colorado and their players are quality kids.”

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    (4) Colorado Springs Christian 39, (1) Sterling 26

    (Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)
    (Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)

    After a few missed opportunities at the free-throw line and back-to-back 3-pointers from Sterling, Colorado Springs Christian took a moment to collect itself.

    With their lead whittled down to five, the fourth-seeded Lions settled back into what had been working all night. With the Tigers in foul trouble, CSCS scored its final 12 points of the game from the free-throw line to advance to its first 3A state title game since 2010.

    The Lions (24-2) were 12-of-14 from the line in the final two-plus minutes after missing the front end of three consecutive 1-and-1 opportunities.

    “I think it was (Coach Mark Engesser). He just told us to breathe and take a few deep breaths,” CSCS junior Rachel Ingram said. “I always tell my teammates ‘just think like it’s practice.’”

    Megan Engesser led the Lions with 21 points, seven of which came at the free-throw line in the closing minutes. Ingram added 11 points.

    Sterling (25-1) received six points each from Brooke Polenz and Taylor Knudson. The Tigers struggled to find a rhythm on offense, and the Lions took advantage by grabbing a number of big rebounds in the fourth quarter.

    “Our main goal for this game was rebounding. Whatever happened, Coach just said ‘rebound no matter what,’” Ingram said. “’Grab that ball like it is the last piece of life on earth.’ I think we did that in the second half.”

    Colorado Springs Christian and Lamar played twice this season, splitting the two games. The Lions defeated the Savages in the Tri-Peaks League District tournament on Feb. 25.

    “We just really need to forget about the past games, because sometimes that tends to get in our heads,” Ingram said. “We just need to focus on our aggression and we need to focus on our defense.”

  • 3A boys hoops Final 4 roundup: Faith Christian’s improbable run continues, will face Sterling in final

    (Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)
    (Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)

    DENVER – Given that he had been whistled for a technical foul in the previous quarter, it would have been understandable if Faith Christian’s Jonah Gardner was a little rattled Thursday night.

    But the Eagles junior was anything but shook up. Instead, Gardner dug deep down the stretch of a tight game with top-seeded Kent Denver in the semifinals of Class 3A state tournament.  Gardner scored Faith Christian’s final six points, hitting four big free throws in the final two minutes to key a 50-48 comeback victory and secure the team a spot in Saturday’s state championship against Sterling at 6 p.m. Hamilton Gym on the University of Denver campus.

    “It was obviously pretty overwhelming, but I just took some deep breaths and just relaxed and shot it,” Gardner said. “I was just trying to block out everyone.”

    Faith Christian (18-8) continued its remarkable run through the 3A field. The Eagles took out previously undefeated and fourth-ranked Resurrection Christian in the second round before upending No. 12 Alamosa on Thursday.

    The team, which won five state titles in a row from 2008-12, was also the No. 13 seed back in 2002 when it won its first championship.

    “We deserved it. We had a rocky season,” Eagles coach Andrew Hasz said of the team’s No. 13 seed. “But we’ve been through some battles some times before.

    “It is nice for those guys to know that we have been there and we can help them through it, but ultimately, they play. Today, they played.”

    Kent Denver (22-4) used a 20-4 run late in the second half to take a 15-point lead at one point. It was a 12-point game in the third quarter before Faith Christian went on a run of its own, eventually taking the lead on a Jonathan Hardcastle 3-pointer with three minutes, 45 seconds remaining.

    “I think it gave some confidence. It’s really hard in those situations to not give up,” Hasz said. “Early we didn’t play our game and we were selfish and struggled on defense.”

    Gardner snapped a 48-48 tie with two free throws with 33.5 seconds remaining. Kent Denver tried to hold for the last shot, but the Eagles forced a jump ball and gained possession.

    “It just takes a lot of heart to come back from the type of lead that Kent had,” Gardner said. “We just give a lot of credit to Kent. They’re a great team.”

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    (10) Sterling 51, (3) Colorado Springs Christian 43

    (Brian Miller/CHSAANow.com)

    The long ball proved to be the Tigers’ friend Friday night, but it was a pair of hard-earned three-point plays that helped end the run of the two-time defending state champions.

    Sterling opened up a close game by driving inside and drawing fouls, taking advantage of Colorado Springs Christian’s struggles from the floor on the other end.

    “We were able to spread it out a little bit and found a couple of opportunities,” Sterling coach Mike Holloway said. “It’s hard to score on them. We were fortunate to get a couple opportunities there to get something going to the hoop.”

    Riley Schaefer led the 10th-seeded Tigers (21-5) with 12 points and Isaac Harris added 11. Justin Engesser finished his career with 28 points and 10 rebounds for the Lions (23-3).

    “That’s a fantastic team and program. We have a lot of respect for those guys,” Holloway said. “I thought our defensive effort was fantastic … offensively we hit enough shots hear and there when we needed them to give us a chance to win.”

    The title game will pit Sterling against No. 13 Faith Christian in a battle between two teams who combined to knock off the top four seeds along the way.

    “I think this year in 3A in general it was wide open,” Holloway said. “It will be another battle.”

  • 2A boys hoops Final 4 roundup: Holyoke edges Paonia in OT, advances to face Sedgwick County

    (Quentin Sickafoose/CHSAANow.com)

    LOVELAND – Nearly 400 miles separate the high schools of Paonia and Holyoke. But on Friday night, their boys basketball teams couldn’t have come any closer.

    Down to the wire – and then some – the Eagles from the Western Slope battled with the Dragons, whose home is roughly 30 miles from the Nebraska state border. It required the first overtime game of the Class 2A state tournament to determine a victor.

    And even then, just a single point proved to be the only slight difference, as No. 2 seed Holyoke capped a comeback win, 64-63 (OT), over No. 6 Paonia before the raucous crowd at the Budweiser Events Center.

    “I never in my wildest dreams thought that would be what would happen,” Holyoke coach Scott Dille said. “But our kids have done it before (come back late to win), and we did it again here tonight. I’m super proud of the kids.”

    The Dragons (21-4) found themselves facing a 14-point deficit late in the game with just more than five minutes to play in the final quarter. And with the way the Eagles (22-3) had been playing most the game, that amount seemed rather daunting.

    Paonia had simply out-worked Holyoke on both sides of the court for the first three frames. Slowly, but continuously, adding to their lead, the Eagles appeared to be running away with a win to join their girls team in title game appearances on Saturday.

    The Dragons finally stormed back as the game wore late, scoring a 23-11 advantage in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Holyoke stood strong after regulation, and a last-second 3-pointer from Colby Simpson was only enough to cut, not match, its lead.

    “I was more disappointed that we didn’t start competing earlier. The way we finished is how we should have been playing the whole time,” Dille said. “I just told them to go out there and start making plays. When it came down to it, they did.”

    Holyoke was led by 18 points each from both Austin Herman and Alex Straussx, while Gunnar Kroeger contributed 13. MJ Taylor had nine, which included the game-tying basket in the final seconds of regulation.

    Paiona also had 18 points both by Simpson, as well as Triston Mautz. Dagan Reinks contributed a big offensive role with 15 points.

    Holyoke will play Sedgwick County for the state championship at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Paiona will face Highland in the third-place game at 1:30 p.m.

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    (1) Sedgwick County 58, (5) Highland 33

    The Cougars started setting out to have their presence felt at the beginning of the season. If there was anybody left who still hadn’t, there certainly aren’t anymore after Friday night.

    No. 1 Sedgwick County (24-1) wears that seeding for good reason. The Cougars have posted two emphatic victories in as many days, first knocking off three-time defending champ Sanford in the quarterfinals and following it up with a 25-point blowout over an undefeated Highland squad in the semis. Now, they’re blasting into the title game with something to prove.

    “We kind of do,” forward Chad Mikelson said. “We all started chipping in there, scoring together as a team and we’re at our best when we do that.”

    Highland (24-1) tried its best to stick around with Sedgwick County, and did so for just past the first half. That’s when the blowout began. The Cougars started going off, tearing through a 32-2 run to end the game on that left the Huskies with no way to respond.

    Leading Sedgwick County’s offensive terror was a double-double from Mikelson that included 18 points and 11 rebounds. Michael Nein put up a team-high 19 points, while Cade McKinley added 10.

    Koby Anderson finished as Highland’s top scorer with 10 points.

    “It’s cool when you see everybody from our community show up,” Mikelson said. “The people in our stands are pretty much all of them we have in our town. It’s great for them to show up and cheer for us the way they do.”

  • Photos: Dakota Ridge boys lacrosse tops Smoky Hill

    LITTLETON — Dakota Ridge boys lacrosse beat Smoky Hill 13-1 on Friday.

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  • Photos: Kent Denver girls lacrosse tops Arapahoe

    ENGLEWOOD — Kent Denver girls lacrosse beat Arapahoe in the season opener for both teams, 14-10. 

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  • Photos: 3A boys and girls basketball Final 4

    DENVER — The 3A girls and boys Final 4 took place Friday at the University of Denver. 

    In girls basketball, Lamar’s Cali Clark hit a buzzer beater to send the Savages into the title game against Colorado Springs Christian, who knocked off top-seeded Sterling to reach the championship.

    In boys basketball, it’s be No. 10 vs. No. 13 for the championship. Faith Christian continued its improbable run with a win over No. 1 Kent Denver. They will face No. 10 Sterling in the title game after the team topped No. 3 Colorado Springs Christian.

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  • Evergreen beats Pueblo South to win first 4A girls basketball title

    Evergreen girls basketball team champions
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    DENVER – Almost one year to the day exactly, Evergreen’s girls basketball team discovered just how sweet redemption truly can be.

    The Cougars returned to the Class 4A state championship game Saturday afternoon, but left last year’s title-game loss to Valor Christian in the past. Evergreen came out with confidence and led wire-to-wire against top-seeded Pueblo South, leaving Denver Coliseum with a 45-35 victory over the Colts and the team’s first-ever state title.

    “There wasn’t a lot of pressure, but we felt so much better going into this game,” Evergreen junior Meriel Hahn said. “We felt we really had a chance to win this year.”

    Claudia Dillon paced the Cougars (25-3) with 11 points and 13 rebounds, and Baylee Galan-Browne also dropped in 11 points.

    Dillon scored 14 points in the 2016 championship game as a freshman. She said another year helped make a big difference, not only for her, but the team as well.

    “That was helpful for us because we knew how to control our emotions and not let the crowd get in our head,” Dillon said. “That was a huge advantage that we had.”

    Gabi Lucero paced Pueblo South (25-3) with 10 points and seven rebounds, and Maya Austin added nine points with a trio of 3-pointers.

    Lucero reportedly had played the last several games with a torn meniscus. The sophomore was matched up on Dillon throughout the game, a battle that Dillon admitted pushed her to the best of her ability.

    “(Gabi’s) a great player. She’s a little bit different than Claudia because she likes to bang more and she’s a physical player,” Evergreen coach Amy Bahl said. “Claudia is more long and lean and athletic and tries to avoid that contact. I thought it was a good matchup.

    “She still kept her cool and that’s why other players stepped up around her.”

    Pueblo South Evergreen girls basketball
    (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

    One of those players was Hahn, who scored seven of her nine points during a critical juncture in the second half. The Colts had used a 7-2 run late in the third quarter to pull within three points at 29-26, but Hahn saved a loose ball and launched a high shot that banked into the net.

    Galan-Browne hit a shot just before the buzzer to make it 33-26 headed into the fourth quarter, and Hahn pushed the lead to 12 points with a three-point play and a bucket inside.

    “We knew that we still had to keep pushing because there was eight minutes in that quarter and a lot can happen in eight minutes,” Dillon said. “Even though we were getting that lead, we had to keep going and getting that lead even (bigger).”

    Pueblo South again closed the gap, thanks to a pair of big 3-pointers from Normandi Guarienti. Lucero made it a 39-35 game in the final three minutes, but the Colts were held scoreless the rest of the way.

    Evergreen went to the free-throw line 12 times in the last two minutes, and even though the Cougars only connected on five of those attempts, Pueblo South was unable to get back into it.

    “I think they believed, and they have all year, that we could still defend and get stops,” Bahl said. “I think that’s kind of what they used as their motivation at the end there.”

    Both teams are still young and can be expected to be among the contenders again next season. Evergreen graduates only one senior in Keigan Drysdale, who finished third on the team in scoring this winter.

    “Having one senior we thought was going to be really hard to handle because we lost so many last year,” Hahn said. “But (Keigan) led the team really well and I thought it was a really good way to go out for her.”

  • Valor Christian wins 4A boys basketball title, program’s first, over Lewis-Palmer

    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    DENVER – Valor Christian boys basketball coach Troy Pachner said when the 2017 postseason began that the Eagles would have to play more to their potential if they were to finally accomplish the lofty goal they fell just short of in 2016.

    For the Eagles, who were disappointed with their state runner-up finish last season, that turned out not to be much of a problem this March.

    In the Class 4A state championship game at the Denver Coliseum on Saturday afternoon, the Eagles (24-4) led nearly from wire-to-wire and pulled away late to beat No. 6 Lewis-Palmer (23-5) by a 68-55 margin. With the elusive championship game victory, the Eagles claimed the school’s first Colorado state title in boys basketball.

    “We finally did it,” Eagles senior point guard Keisan Crosby said. “Last year we came so close and we weren’t able to put it away. This year, to come back here with a group of nine seniors and win this, it’s huge for us. We got the first banner in Valor boys basketball history.”

    Crosby added that once the Eagles reached the 2016 Final 4, they weren’t happy with their play in seven of the final eight quarters of last season. This year’s Final 4, and the state title game in particular, was a different story.

    Leading 15-8 after the first quarter, the top-seeded Eagles pushed their lead to as many as 13 points in the second quarter. But back-to-back 3-pointers from Rangers senior Drew Blomberg and a converted and-1 from sophomore Joel Scott (14.1 points per game) cut the lead back down to six in the final minute of the first half.

    Valor Christian Lewis-Palmer boys basketball
    (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

    At the break, the Eagles led 27-21.

    After turning the ball over 13 times in the first half, the Rangers settled down in the second and played more like the team that won 19 straight games leading up to Saturday’s title game. They cut the Valor lead to four points midway through the third quarter but Eagles senior Kayle Knuckles (15.5 points per game) responded to the lead-threatening run with an immediate 3-pointer at the other end.

    “We really felt like we got it going at the end of the third quarter,” Eagles leading scorer Jalen Sanders (22.4 points per game) said. “They cut the lead down to six at halftime but then we were able to get it back up to the 10-to-15 range in the third.”

    Knuckles combined with teammate Dylan McCaffrey, who played sparingly in the first half after picking up three early fouls, to score 13 third-quarter points. The pair helped the Eagles finish the third quarter on a 10-4 run that pushed the Eagles’ lead to 44-34 to start the fourth.

    Sanders took over and Knuckles scored 12 of his game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter, and the Eagles kept the Rangers from getting closer than eight points to ride out the win. It was a career-high scoring night for Knuckles. Sanders finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Crosby had six assists to go with 12 points.

    “We’ve gotten a lot of experience and growth over the past two years,” said Pachner, who also led the D’Evelyn boys to a 3A state title in 2004. “A lot of people like to look at culminating moments like this, but for us it’s really about the process. All seven of our seniors that play a lot of minutes have been exceptional (in the Final 4) and tonight we always had six or seven guys who were constantly contributing to our team’s effort.”

    For Lewis-Palmer, Scott lead the team with 15 points. Blomberg finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, while senior Angelo Battistelli (12.9 ppg) had 12 points and seven rebounds.

    “Valor is a really good team and I told our guys before that this is going to be a game between two pretty good basketball teams that are very good at running their stuff,” Rangers head coach Bill Benton said. “We uncharacteristically missed a lot of layups tonight. We got the shots at the rim we wanted to and we didn’t knock them down. It was about the details.

    “This game really isn’t a culmination of our season. Our guys did a great job of battling through everything all year long. It wasn’t the way we wanted it to end up but this game shouldn’t define these young men, or their season.”

    Valor Christian boys basketball team champions
    (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

  • Live coverage: Girls and boys state basketball championships

    DENVER and LOVELAND — The 2017 state basketball championship games in all classes are on Saturday.

    Complete live coverage of each game is below.

    Watch live:

    Brackets:

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    Live Blog 2017 state basketball championships
     

  • Something special mounting in the hills of Evergreen

    Evergreen girls basketball coach Amy Bahl had guided the Cougars to a 96-35 record through five seasons. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    DENVER — Back-to-back trips to any state championship game is impressive.

    In just five seasons at the helm of Evergreen’s girls basketball program, coach Amy Bahl has already accomplished the feat of making the Cougars a team expected to make a deep run into the state tournament every season. Since taking over the program at the start of the 2012-13 season, Evergreen has a 96-35 record under Bahl’s guidance.

    “It’s crazy. You don’t expect that,” Bahl said after Evergreen won the program’s first girls basketball state title with a 45-35 victory Saturday against Pueblo South at the Denver Coliseum. “I don’t want to get emotional, but you do all this stuff and it pays off.”

    With consecutive trips to the Class 4A title game while amassing a 49-7 record, the Cougars have establish themselves as a 4A powerhouse.

    (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    Historically, Evergreen has been most recognized for its volleyball success. The Cougars claimed nine volleyball championships in 10 years from 1976 to 1985.

    “I want it be a basketball school,” Evergreen junior Baylee Galan-Greene said after the Cougars improved last year’s remarkable season by one win. “We’ve worked so hard for this. It’s a basketball school now. I’m down with that.”

    The journey for Evergreen’s girls basketball team weaved through several obstacles on the way to having shots at the school’s first girls basketball state title in 2016 and 2017.

    The Cougars’ 2016 drive to their first appearance in a girls hoops title game was led by the one of the program’s all-time career leading scorers in Sam Kisiel, a bevy of seemingly tireless guards spearheaded by seniors Logan Newhall and Hannah Orr and freshman sensation Claudia Dillon.

    “Losing players like that honestly hurt us, but it motivated us to try harder and push through it,” Galan-Browne said. “Our motto this year was to go out, have fun and win some games.”

    Evergreen’s lone senior Keigan Drysdale admitted their were plenty of questions heading into this season.

    (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    “None of us knew what to expect,” Drysdale said. “I don’t think any of us expected us to be here and winning this (state title).”

    Playing in the competitive 4A Jeffco League has been a benefit recently. There has been a representative from Jeffco in the 4A title game 5-of-6 season — D’Evelyn (2012 and 2013), Valor (2015 and 2016) and Evergreen (2016 and 2017)

    Evergreen’s three losses this season came against 4A Jeffco champion Golden (two losses) and two-time defending 4A state champion Valor, who defeated Evergreen in the 2016 state championship game.

    “I told the girls (after the loss to Golden) we weren’t going to win league, but we still have a shot at winning state,” Bahl said. “Not a lot of teams who don’t win their league have that ability. They used that as motivation for sure.”

    Getting back to a third state championship game in 2018 wouldn’t be a stretch with everyone back except for Drysdale.

    “I always tell the girls it about building a tradition at the school and a system, a system you believe in,” Bahl said. “When everyone (players, parents and community) is on your side you can do good things like this. I tribute all this success to everyone.”

    (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)