DENVER – Two things needed to happen in the second half for Timnath to make the early wake up call worth it. The Cubs had to limit Colorado Academy’s scoring chances and they needed to hit their open shots.

Check and check.

The Cubs outscored Colorado Academy 25-6 in the final two quarter to get a 43-28 win in the Class 4A girls basketball Great 8.

Timnath moves into the Final 4 where they’ll meet the winner of D’Evelyn and Kent Denver.

Tiana Guzman scored a game-high 15 points and went 5-for-9 from 3-point range in the game.

“I struggled in the first half and had to mentally regroup,” Guzman said. “I came back out and after I hit that first one, I was just feeling it. It was so much fun.”

Sam Clevenger led the Mustangs with 12 points, but pulled down a staggering 19 rebounds. But the size advantage didn’t phase the Cubs as they reach the Final 4 for the second season in a row.

Holy Family 42, Sterling 32

By Jon Yunt

The fourth-seeded Holy Family girls advanced to the 4A Final 4 on Wednesday morning with a 42-32 victory over No. 5 Sterling at the Denver Coliseum.

Holy Family (18-8) will face the winner of the University/Alamosa game on Friday at either 11 a.m. or 2:15 p.m back at the Coliseum.

Leading the way for Holy Family was senior Gracie Ward, who led all scorers with 18 points and junior Priya Lucas, who added 9 points and 7 rebounds.

“Our biggest message these last two weeks has been that we’re playing for each other and we’re fighting for one more day of practice,” Ward said. “We won today so we can have one last practice together tomorrow. The love for each other is really shown on the court.”

Perhaps the most important job on the court for Holy Family belonged to senior Elli Nugent, who was tasked with tracking Sterling’s leading scorer — freshman Karsyn Tonche — wherever she went. Nugent was on her hip for the entire game and limited Tonche, who came in averaging 16 points per game, to just 12 points and was instrumental in creating 18 Sterling turnovers.

Senior Taylor Tonche led Sterling (20-6) with 13 points.