5A girls basketball Final 4: Green Mountain and Lutheran punch their tickets to title game

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 Saturday back to the Coliseum. “You need a little bit of luck on your side and you have to play really good.”

Lutheran 38, Standley Lake 36

Lutheran will get the rematch it wanted when the 5A girls basketball state tournament began.

The top-seeded Lions will face No. 2 Green Mountain in the title game scheduled for a 5:45 p.m. tipoff Saturday, March 14, at the Denver Coliseum.

“We feel like we are so much better now,” Lutheran senior Berkley Schneider said about the 48-41 overtime loss to Green Mountain back on Dec. 18. “I think it will be a great game. We’ll see what happens. It’s exciting.”

Lutheran (24-3 record) edged No. 5 Standley Lake 38-36 in a physical battle to set-up the second go-around this season between the Lions and Rams. The tight victory for Lutheran was the Lions’ 20th straight victory. Its last loss was actually the road defeat against Green Mountain.

Junior Isla Koffman had back-to-back buckets for the Lions with just under 2 minutes to play against the young and talented Gators, giving Lutheran a 38-36 lead. Neither team scored in the final 2 minutes.

Koffman finished with a double-double (14 points and 15 rebounds). Schneider battled a finger injury and foul trouble, but hit a key 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. She finished with 12 points.

“Honestly, it wasn’t my best shooting day,” Schneider admitted, after going 5-for-13 from the field. “I think just sticking with it. I trusted my shot and knew they would fall in the end. It was really exciting and I’m really proud of my team.”

Lutheran was able to contain freshman sensation JoJo Martin in the fourth quarter. Martin had 13 points and 16 rebounds in the Gators’ first Final 4 appearance for the program. Freshman Chloe Martin had 9 points for Standley Lake and senior Aaliyah Valenzuela added 8 points.

First-year coach Enoch Miller started a trio of Gator freshmen this season. Standley Lake does graduate a few seniors, but should have Sydney Martin back for her senior season on the court next year. The older Martin sister missed the entire season while recovering from knee surgery.

Lutheran was able to prevent an all-Jeffco 5A championship game with the victory, denying the Gators first trip to the title game. The Lions will attempt Saturday to win the program’s sixth state title and first at the 5A level.

“Honestly, I think Standley Lake is a really great match-up for us,” Schneider said. “They are a great team, but we worked hard for this. This is what we are meant to do.”