DENVER – By the third quarter Saturday, University forward Maddie McNair had tissue shoved up her nose. She’d taken multiple hands and elbows to the face as the Delta 2-3 zone collapsed to cover the middle, and even more contact as her and Addison Harding scrapped for offensive boards.
But the physicality ultimately paid off as the top-seeded Bulldogs came back in the second half to defeat the No. 6 Panthers 42-35 in the Class 4A girls basketball title game, finishing the season undefeated and securing the first state championship in program history.
“Nobody deserves it more than that group right there,” University coach Matt Baumgartner said. “They’re phenomenal and it’s an unbelieve feeling. Nobody deserves it more.”
The Bulldogs leaned heavily on Harding’s size, where the 6-foot-1 post player dominated inside and finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, with four boards coming on the offensive glass. The high-low post action between Harding and McNair also opened up opportunities for the latter, who had eight points and seven rebounds.
It was McNair, too, whose putback late in the game ultimately iced proceedings.
“Maddie had struggled finishing some shots early,” Baumgartner said. “But she was there for a huge put back when it mattered most.”
While the guard-heavy lineup for the Panthers made life more difficult for season-leading scorer Janay Kravig, she still finished with 11 points. It was her facilitation in the offense, alongside McNair’s, that enabled the Bulldogs’ size to win the day.
University outrebounded the Panthers 31-26 and had 13 offensive rebounds as a team.
“We played them last year in the regional round, so we knew we would be able to penetrate if we could get into the middle,” Baumgartner said. “But we had to get into the middle and we knew we were going to have to use that high-low look and our post players to get into those crevices.”
Delta, meanwhile, overcame early hurdles to lead in the first half.
With Breezy Huff — whose 27-point outburst pushed the Panthers into the finals — in foul trouble early, the Panthers turned to an unlikely source of success in the 3-point shot. Throughout the season, Crowder said the Panthers have been inconsistent from beyond the arc, but key 3-pointers from Jaycee Christie, Paige Kehmeier and Mya Abeyta propelled Delta to a 20-17 lead at halftime.
Huff returned to her scoring surge from the day before during the third quarter, where she scored the team’s first seven points of the frame.
Although the Panthers came up short of winning their first title in school history, Delta’s senior class still repeatedly qualified for the playoffs and twice reached the Great Eight before reaching the state championship this year.
Even during the second-place trophy ceremony, there were smiles mixed in with disappointment, and Panthers coach Kyle Crowder said that outlook has been a constant with this group.
“They love each other,” Crowder said. “It’s pretty special. I want this group to look at the things they did and appreciate the accomplishments. I want them to enjoy it.”
(Eric Brown)
