DENVER – There was no doubt that a Crittendon storm was incoming. But Northfield weathered it just fine.
Riverdale Ridge’s Brihanna Crittendon dropped 41 points, but the Nighthawks countered with a diverse scoring attack and a tough, physical defensive game plan to beat the Ravens 66-59 to advance to the Class 6A girls basketball Final 4 next week.
Madison Bethel led the Nighthawks with 21 points while London Taylor dropped 16 and Faith Nelson had 10.
Northfield led by 6 after the first half before Crittendon took over in the third.
“Brihanna is going to drop points,” Bethel said. “We know she’s a good player, but we know we can stop her and know that we can score points as well.”
The Nighthawks face the winner of Cherokee Trail and Legend.
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Denver East 56, Valor Christian 48
A strong second quarter powered Denver East into the semifinals where they await the winner of Arapahoe and Highlands Ranch.
Grace Hall scored a game-high 18 points and Mairead Hearty put together a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
The Angels outscored the Eagles 17-9 in the second quarter and although Valor slightly closed the gap in the third, East stayed composed and fended off any comeback attempt in the fourth.
“The main thing we were aware of was maintaining our composure,” Hall said. “Going into the game knowing we had to stay calm and play at our pace is what we were focused on from the start.”
Peyton Jones led the Eagles with 17 points and Camryn Gunter added 15.
(Doug Ottewill/ColoradoPreps.com)
