DENVER — Losing a senior captain and leading scorer right before the postseason might spell doom for the most basketball teams, but not the Green Mountain Rams.
Senior Kantyn Pearson (16.4 points per game) suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Rams’ regular-season finale on Feb. 16 and had surgery this last week. The loss hasn’t derailed Green Mountain’s postseason run.
Green Mountain scored a 50-40 victory over Mead in the first of eight Class 5A girls and boys state quarterfinal games Saturday at the Denver Coliseum.
“They have putting this together the last three years,” Green Mountain coach Matteo Busnardo said after the Rams punched their second straight trip to the Final 4 of the girls basketball state tournament. “We are heavy with juniors and a few seniors. We have harped on it all year. They love each other and are resilience. They stick together. There is no quit.”
No. 2 Green Mountain overcame a double-digit deficit in the first half against No. 7 Mead. Green Mountain (25-1 record) rallied for its 23rd consecutive win behind juniors Addie Evans (17 points) and Grace Herrig (15 points).
Mead (19-7) held a 24-14 lead with 3 minutes to go in the second quarter after a bucket from senior Elena Gomez.
“We knew we weren’t playing our best basketball when we were down by 10 points,” Evans said. “We were letting them have their open shots and a great team like that is going to make open 3s. Once we figured out how to run our zone and close out on shots we were good.”
Gomez finished with 14 points, but only had one field goal in the second half. Freshman Kally Clark had a dozen points on three 3-pointers for the season-ending loss for the Mavericks.
Standley Lake 68, Windsor 66
The magic of Standley Lake freshman JoJo Martin elevated the Gators to their first Final 4 appearance in the school’s history.
No. 5-seeded Standley Lake defeated No. 4 Windsor 68-66 on a steal and ensuing layup by Martin at the buzzer in the Class 5A quarterfinal Saturday afternoon at the Denver Coliseum.
“I knew we were going to have to play defense in order to win this game,” Martin said. “We ended up executing our ‘fire’ and getting the steal. I saw it, saw the basket and just went up. Thankfully it went in.”
Junior Rae Coronado initially got defensive pressure on Windsor junior Nola Greenwald as the inbound pass came into Greenwald, who lost control of the ball after making contact with Coronado. Martin was able to pick up the loose ball near the free-throw line and put up a floater in the lane that drop as the buzzer sounded.
“She is a very special person,” Standley Lake coach Enoch Miller said of Martin, who scored a game-high 33 points. “She is a very special player and this is a very special team. We knew it was going to take all of us.”
Standley Lake senior Aaliyah Valenzuela got things started with a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter. She ended with 11 points. Freshmen Chloe Miller and Ireland Kassatly combined for 24 points.
Kassatly fouled out with 5:06 left in the fourth quarter. The freshman point guard fouled out early in the fourth quarter in a non-league game against Northfield earlier in the year. The Gators (22-4 record) eventually lost to Northfield.
“We learned from that and we knew we could still do this,” Coach Miller said.
Greenwald — team-high 21 points for Windsor — drained a 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining to tie the game at 66-66. However, Standley Lake’s defense forced the final turnover of the game that led to the game-winner by Martin.
“It feels amazing with such a young group,” Martin said of the history-making squad. “It feels amazing to play in the Coliseum and to win in the Coliseum. It’s just really crazy.”
Standley Lake will face the winner of No. 9 Pueblo East and No. 1 Lutheran in the semifinals Thursday, March 12, at the Coliseum.
“We’ve got a chance,” Coach Miller said of winning the whole tournament. “Yesterday we were down here watching the games and anything can happen once you get down here.”
Standley Lake joins Jeffco League rival Green Mountain in the 5A Final 4. Both programs have never won a state title.
