No. 1 Air Academy girls survive upset bid
Down nearly the entire first half, No. 1 Air Academy’s 11-0 run to start the second half gained enough momentum to overcome and hold off No. 8 Frederick in the Great 8 round of the Class 5A girls state basketball tournament, 45-39, on Friday night.
Frederick rolled in the first half and was on course to pull off a massive upset, but fell short despite responding well to the runs the Kadets (25-1) went on.
With active hands and stout rebounding, Frederick jumped out to a 16-9 lead after the first quarter, using its quick transition game to build upon its lead on multiple occasions. The Golden Eagles (19-7) gave up just 16 points in the first half.
“Frederick, hats off to them and their coaching staff, they made us work really hard,” Air Academy coach Phil Roikos said. “I wasn’t sure when we were going to start scoring again because that first half was the absolute lowest we’ve had all year.”
At halftime, Roikos reminded his team about a philosophy with which it had found success all year: string together three stops in a row.
It did. The Kadets’ thirdquarter run was riddled with many more than just three stops, but more important was their ability to replicate that milestone a few more times to finish the game.
Kadets sophomore Audrina
Nelson’s 3 with less than a minute to go put it out of reach, then senior Colorado State commit Caitlin Kramer sealed it with free throws.
After losing in the Great 8 last season to eventual champion Roosevelt, the win meant something extra on the Kadets’ quest for their first title since 2012.
“Last year was about (the team) getting experienced,” Roikos said. “It’s the same players, but a different team with different chemistry. We’ve handled the pressure much better this year and I couldn’t be happier.”
NO. 4 NORTHFIELD 66, NO. 5 WINDSOR 55 >> Behind freshman power forward Laporsha Allen’s dominating 24-point performance, the Nighthawks made a huge statement by dispatching the Wizards, a perennial state contender, with relative ease.
Allen shot 11 of 15 from the floor and played with the poise of an upper-classman to help the Nighthawks (23-3) advance to the first Final Four in school history.
“She has a high I.Q.,” first-year coach Sydney Price said. “She sees the floor, she understands the game and she doesn’t get rattled. She’s very patient and composed.”
Windsor (17-9) was paced by junior guard Reyleigh Hess’s 18-point, 16-rebound performance.
NO. 2 ROOSEVELT 60, NO. 7 MONTROSE 45 >> What do you do when a deadlock can’t be broken?
“Just stay positive,” said Enoch Miller, coach of the No. 2 Roosevelt girls basketball team. “I told the team, ‘Listen, we’re not going to lose this game.”
A message simple enough going into the final four minutes of their Great 8 game against Montrose. Positivity was definitely displayed in that stretch, as the Rough Riders went on a 17-1 run to stamp out any hopes of an upset from Montrose.
Down two heading into the final frame, the Rough Riders didn’t pull away until Madison Moyers hit her third 3 of the game with four minutes left to put her team up by two possessions — the biggest lead of the half for either team up to that point.
Moyers had 13 points on the day, including some big free throws late, but the scoring came from all over. Four Rough Riders eclipsed double digits.
Boys
NO. 4 MESA RIDGE 68, NO. 12 DAKOTA RIDGE 44 >> Second verse, same as the first.
Riding the brilliance of the Riehl brothers, defending champion Mesa Ridge eliminated Dakota Ridge in the Great 8 for the second straight year.
Bryce Riehl (17 points, six rebounds, six assists) did most of his damage in the first half, and Tevin Riehl (16 points, seven rebounds) took over in the second as the Grizzlies raced out to a 34-15 halftime lead and kept the Eagles at arm’s length the rest of the way.
Tanner Widic and Zander Iwanski added 13 points apiece for Mesa Ridge (242), which will face top seed Northfield in the Final Four next Thursday.
Ethan Berninger did his best to pull Dakota Ridge (18-8) back in the game, draining all three of his 3s in the third quarter as part of a 22-point night. But with the rest of the team shooting 2 of 14 from beyond the arc, it wasn’t near enough.
NO. 3 WINDSOR 74, NO. 6 LEWIS-PALMER 68 >> Led by a couple youngsters, Windsor is two wins away from a championship feat the Wizards haven’t accomplished in a century.
The Wizards held off Lewis-palmer in the Class 5A Great 8, behind a stellar performance by sophomore point guard Madden Smiley.
Smiley paved the way to next week’s Final Four with a double-double, dropping 31 points to go along with 11 rebounds. And another sophomore, forward Deacon Schmitt, was a force inside by adding 12 points. The Wizards dominated down low, with a 56-28 advantage in points in the paint, while leading nearly the entire game.
Windsor led 23-11 after one quarter as the Lewispalmer offense couldn’t find a rhythm. Senior guard Cohen Edmondson kept the Rangers afloat with eight points during that rough opening frame, and finished with a team-high 20 points.
After Lewis-palmer closed the gap in a third quarter where the teams played to a 14-14 draw, the Rangers knocked down a flurry of threes in the fourth to put pressure on Windsor. But every time Lewis-palmer hit a big shot, Smiley & Co. had an answer.