DENVER — Green Mountain made history Thursday afternoon at the Denver Coliseum advancing to its first girls basketball state championship game.
“It’s special because it is the first time they’ve ever gone there,” Green Mountain coach Matteo Busnardo said of the Rams heading to the Class 5A title game. “When I took over four years ago I never knew if this would even be a thing. I’m just super proud of the girls.”
The No. 2-seeded Rams beat the previously undefeated No. 3 Montrose 49-39 in the first of six Final 4 playoff games at the Denver Coliseum. Green Mountain (26-1 record) was in the Final 4 a year ago, but lost to Air Academy in the semifinals.
“It’s unbelievable,” Green Mountain junior Grace Herrig said of the Rams making the title game. “Even when I was a little kid, I was always thinking about it. Now for it to happen it’s crazy. It’s unreal.”
The Red Hawks (26-1) came out on fire offensively putting up 24 points in the first 8 minutes. Montrose led 24-9 after the first quarter where the Red Hawks had a 14-0 run.
Freshman Landree Johnson and senior Maggie Legg combined for 22 points in the first quarter for Montrose.
“I don’t know what it is. Maybe they like to make it interesting for the crowd,” Busnardo said of the Rams being down double-digit points in both the state quarterfinal and semifinal games at the Coliseum. “It just shows that they don’t quit. It just feels like there isn’t any doubt.”
Green Mountain chipped away and took the lead for good late in the third quarter. Junior Addie Evans 3-point play with 2:11 left in the third quarter gave the Rams a 35-33 lead. Evans scored all of her 8 points in the third quarter while also celebrating her 17th birthday on Thursday.
“We’ve been down with deficits before. That was not our best basketball,” Evans said of the Rams’ first quarter. “We knew we could come back from it. Our coaches believe in us. Everyone on the court believes we can come back.”
Green Mountain had even scoring with Herrig and sophomore Marissa VanGuilder pouring in 11 points each.
“Marissa’s confidence has been a huge game-changer coming off the bench,” Evans said of the sophomore. “She has played a big role.”
Junior Ella Cockrum (7 points), along with senior Peyton Coil (6 points) and junior Cadyn Cavanaugh (6 points) kept the Rams balanced offensively.
“We want to show Green Mountain that we can win the state championship this year,” Evans said.
Green Mountain’s boys team made the 5A title game a year ago, but lost to Windsor in the championship game.
“It is really hard to get there,” Busnardo said of the Rams advancing to the championship game scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday back to the Coliseum against the other semifinal winner between No. 1 Lutheran and No. 5 Standley Lake that tipped off at 2:15 p.m. Thursday. “You need a little bit of luck on your side and you have to play really good.”
