Northfield and Standley Lake girls basketball teams put on a show following Winter Break

WESTMINSTER — Two of the top girls basketball teams in Class 6A and 5A took top billing in Tuesday night action coming out of Winter Break.

Northfield (No. 4 in the current 6A CHSAA Seeding Index) traveled to face Standley Lake (No. 1 in the current 5A CHSAA Seeding Index). While the Nighthawks grabbed a 78-61 road victory to hand the Gators their first loss of the season, the score didn’t indicate how much of a battle it was on the court.

Standley Lake (6-1 record) trailed by 20 points early in the third quarter, but trimmed the deficit all the way down to just 3 points early in the fourth quarter. Northfield (8-1) pulled away in the final quarter outscoring the Gators 25-15 in the final frame to take the win.

“It makes it fun I guess,” Northfield junior Delaney Dennis said of the Gators’ second-half comeback attempt. “It shouldn’t have got that close, but we proved we were able to dig ourselves out, stay confident and trust ourselves.”

Dennis had a monster game pouring in a game-high 26 points. Juniors Madison Bethel, London Taylor and Paris Taylor also all finished with double-digit points to keep the Nighthawks perfect against in-state opponents. The lone loss this season for Northfield was against Perry (AZ) before Winter Break.

Northfield’s depth was key to go on the final run in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

“It really helps if we are in foul trouble or if we are without a player like we didn’t have Faith Nelson tonight,” Dennis said. “We know we have the girls.”

Northfield suffered an early first-round exit in its first year playing at the 6A level a season ago, but was the 5A state runner-up in 2024.

The Nighthawks will get another good test when they return home to host Mullen on Thursday, Jan. 8.

“I was happy with the way we competed,” Standley Lake’s first-year coach Enoch Miller said. “At the end of the day you can’t replicate the speed and athleticism that Northfield has. This is why you schedule games like this.”

The Gators have a trio of freshmen (Ireland Kassatly, Jojo Martin and Chloe Miller) that have made Standley Lake a favorite not only to challenge for the 5A/4A/3A Jeffco League title, but also be a legitimate contender in 5A.

Chloe Miller poured in 20 points, including a trio of 3-pointers in the third quarter. Martin finished with 18 points after a slow start in the first half. Kassatly had 8 points, but fouled out in the final minute of the third quarter.

“Our point guard (Kassatly) is so valuable to us. She handles it. She distributes the ball,” Coach Miller said. “With her fouling out at the end of the third quarter I knew it was going to be tough sledding ball-handling down the stretch.”

Senior Aaliyah Valenzuela had a dozen points to help out the Gators’ cause.

“I’m not going to pull any punches. I’m not trying to be cocky, but we are somewhere in the top five or six in 5A,” Coach Miller said. “It is fun to play (Northfield), but they aren’t our competition. There are some really good 5A teams out there like Green Mountain, but we feel we are up there.”

Green Mountain is the defending league champs and was a 5A Final 4 team a year ago. The conference showdown between the Gators and Rams is scheduled for the league finale for both teams Feb. 16 at Standley Lake High School.

Junior Sydney Martin — 14.9 points and 11.7 rebounds per game during her sophomore year — suffered a torn ACL about six months ago. It might be a long shot for her to be back for any part of the 2025-25 high school season, but never say never.