HIGH-FIVES
Evergreen’s Claudia Dillon, right, tries to score against Widefield’s MacKenzie King during the Class 4A semifinal game at the Denver Coliseum on Thursday. Evergreen won 48-32 and will meet Pueblo South in the championship game Saturday. In Class 5A, Grandview and Regis Jesuit advanced to the title game.
Pueblo South and Evergreen are all set for a rematch in Saturday’s Class 4A girls basketball state championship game after they won semifinal games Thursday at the Denver Coliseum.
In the first game Thursday, the No. 12 Colts (18-9) willed themselves back into the championship game with a 74-62 overtime victory over No. 8 Mesa Ridge (23-4, Colorado Springs Metro League champion).
Mesa Ridge looked like it had the Colts beat late in the fourth quarter after senior point guard Chloe Welch, who finished with 29 points and 12 rebounds, hit a layup to put the Grizzlies up one with under 30 seconds left.
The Colts then missed a runner in the lane with less than 10 seconds left on the following possession that would’ve put them ahead.
But after a foul, and then an askew second free throw, Pueblo South guard Maya Austin took the rebound and sprinted up the floor to put home a running layup as the buzzer sounded, sending the game to overtime tied at 59.
From there, the Colts dominated the extra frame, never trailing in overtime.
Inside, the battle between the centers became more and more crucial as the game wore on, with the Colts’ Gabi Lucero (22 points) pitted against the rotation of Mesa Ridge’s Kylie Lenberg and Ashley Bowen, who finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Evergreen 48, Widefield 32. After its first-ever title win last season, Evergreen now has a chance to repeat.
The No. 6 Cougars (25-2) wore down No. 15 Widefield (21-6), as Evergreen capitalized on a balanced scoring effort and stingy defense to overcome the Gladiators’ flashy guard talent.
Junior guard Aaliyah Ricketts and the Gladiators, who upset Golden on the road in the Great 8, answered just about every Cougars run as Evergreen took a 21-16 lead into the locker room.
Evergreen then came out in the third and extended its lead, as senior guard Kristina Schreiber and junior forward Claudia Dillon led the Cougars’ offensive charge, while the play of Widefield senior wing Charisse Fairley — who finished with a game-high 17 points — kept the Gladiators in the game heading into the fourth quarter.
The Jeffco League champions then stepped on the gas in the final frame, never allowing Widefield to get back within a single digit as the Gladiators struggled to find any offensive flow.
Schreiber paced the Cougars with 16 points, while Dillon chipped in nine and senior Baylee Galan-Browne scored eight.