5A FAVORITES
Highlands Ranch, Grandview
The parallels between the two clear favorites to win the Class 5A girls basketball tournament, No. 1 Highlands Ranch and No. 2 Grandview, extend well beyond the fact that they’re on opposite sides of the bracket and on a collision course to meet in the championship game.
The similarities start on the bench, where each team boasts an elite coach. Highlands Ranch’s Caryn Jarocki is, hands down, the greatest coach in the history of Colorado high school girls basketball. In 21 seasons at Highlands Ranch — preceded by 11 seasons at Colorado Academy — she has led the Falcons to seven state championships and amassed a 595-161 record heading into Tuesday’s Sweet 16 showdown against No. 17 Castle View. She has the most victories for any girls coach by an astounding 130 wins over second-ranked Bill Bradley of Monarch.
And heading up Grandview’s coaching staff is Josh Ulitzky, who over 12 seasons with the Wolves and six years at Overland before that is 257-171 going into Tuesday’s Sweet 16 game against No. 15 Arapahoe. That ranks Ulitizky 24th on the all-time wins list as he bands his girls together for the latest push toward the program’s first state championship.
Both coaches have instilled in their teams, albeit over slightly varying timelines, the killer instinct needed to win games, and lots of them.
“It’s tournament time, and this is what it’s all about,” Jarocki said. “We’ve gone through the whole season, and traveled and played all these games and prepared and prepared and prepared. So ‘bring it’ is the mind-set we have right now.”
It doesn’t hurt that both teams are headlined by two of the top players in the state. Grandview’s Michaela Onyenwere, a UCLA commit and the two-time defending player of the year, is shaping up to be one of the most talented players to ever come out of Colorado. And for Highlands Ranch, junior point guard Tommi Olson leads the team with 15.0 points per game as she continues to cement herself as one of the best prospects in the Class of 2018.
For Onyenwere, who’s averaging 20.0 points and 8.9 rebounds, the key to guiding her team past the final four — where the Wolves fell to ThunderRidge last season — and on to raising the gold ball is the belief the McDonald’s All-American has in those around her.
“She just needs to trust her teammates, and I think she does,” Ulitzky said. “She also needs to make sure she’s letting the game come to her, and if she does that, the rest will take care of itself. She and all the girls are motivated to play well, and the fact they’re so close as a group will help Michaela rally them to overcome things on the court.”
And for Olson, who starred in the Falcons’ championship game run last season — where they also had their season end in a loss to ThunderRidge — her emergence to the forefront of the girls basketball landscape this season didn’t happen by accident.
“People think Tommi all of a sudden came out of nowhere. Well, we’ve been working with Tommi since sixth grade, and we’ve been training her for these moments she gets as a junior and a senior,” Jarocki said. “In her first two years, it was a struggle for us to get her to shoot the three even though she was our best shooter. All the time we were like, ‘Shoot the ball, shoot the ball.’ Now she’s mature enough to handle those responsibilities.”
The mirroring of the powerhouses continues in the all-important intangibles of depth and experience. Grandview’s supporting cast of junior wing Leilah Vigil, junior shooting guard Jaiden Galloway, sophomore center Alisha Davis and senior point guard Kennede Brown give the Wolves a well-rounded lineup rivaled only by Highlands Ranch, which is also potent from top to bottom despite not starting a single senior.
Sophomore forward Autumn Watts and sophomore power forward Kasey Neubert have been an effective one-two combination down low for the Falcons, while junior shooting guard Courtney Humbarger adds a complementary threat to Olson out on the perimeter.
“Part of the keys with those role players is that as coaches, we figure out that one extra thing that they can do to help the team each time we play,” Jarocki said. “They’ve really been buying into that, and it’s showing on the film and with the wins.”
Neither team has lost an in-state game this season, with the only blemishes for the Falcons (22-2) and Wolves (23-1) coming at premier national tournaments in December. Otherwise, both have been unstoppable within Colorado, with Highlands Ranch running the table to the Continental League title and Grandview easily cruising to the Centennial League crown.
All of which leads to Vigil, who is the ultimate parallel between the two programs and the one who could very well be the difference should the teams meet in the title game March 11 at the Denver Coliseum.
Vigil, who led Highlands Ranch in scoring and to the cusp of the championship last season, transferred to Grandview before the school year began, where she has swapped shades of blue on her uniform and is averaging 13.8 points and 8.9 rebounds.
She knows there’s a good chance she’ll play her former teammates for the title, but emphasized it’s a heavyweight bout everyone on both sides is more than ready for.
“I’m proud of Highlands Ranch and I’m grateful that I got the opportunity to play with them, because it’s cool to see them work hard and continue to carry that tradition on from last year,” Vigil explained.
“Meeting them in the championship would be a huge deal. I’m one of those players where when it comes crunch time in those big games and my team needs me, I’m the one who can step up. I’ll always continue to be that player — the hustle player, the fire player, the one that gives our fans, our coaches and my teammates inspiration. To do that on the biggest stage against Highlands Ranch would be amazing.”