(Brock Laue)
LOVELAND — Norwood, the No. 2 seed in the Class 1A girls basketball state tournament at the Budweiser Events Center, had a commanding 12-0 lead at the end of the first quarter over No. 7 seeded Kit Carson in the quarterfinals.
The Mavericks looked like they might run away and hide from the Wildcats, but Kit Carson showed a lot of heart and took a 28-27 lead with 5:20 remaining. Norwood never lost its cool in an exciting 38-35 victory to advance to their first final four since 2012 when it finished as runner-up to Pawnee.
Norwood held a 27-17 lead in the third quarter, but Kit Carson senior guard Brooke Crawford came alive. She was cold shooting in the first half with a mere three points, but ignited the Wildcats’ offense with 15 second-half points on an array of jumpers and drives.
The Mavericks remained poised as Jordan Williams, the leading scorer this season for Norwood with a 16.9 average, buried 4-of-4 at the charity stripe in the final two minutes in a 13-point performance. Lucia Viukova, a skilled 6-foot versatile player with a good mid-range jumper, chipped in 3-of-4 free-throws down the stretch and scored 15 points.
Norwood coach Greg King, also the head boys coach for the Mavericks’ playoff team, knew the matchup against Kit Carson wouldn’t be easy.
“It’s a good thing we got off to a good, quick start, because we knew they were going to comeback,” King said. “At some time they were going to make a run, but I thought our kids, when we lost the lead the one time, they were resilient and we took the lead back. It was a good win for us.”
Kit Carson will play Dove Creek in a consolation game Friday morning.
Norwood, now 23-1 this season, moves on to face Eads in the final four Friday evening. Eads, 21-1, beat Dove Creek 56-26 on Thursday.
“We knew it would be just like this,” King said about the hard-fought win over Kit Carson. “There are eight pretty good teams here.”
Briggsdale 34, Idalia 33
In the day’s first game, the Briggsdale Falcons led 19-10 at the half, but Reagan Shaffer and Idalia fought back to take a 26-25 lead into the fourth.
Shaffer had 12 second-half points, but the Falcons’ Leilani Carrasco drained a winning jumper with two seconds left to lead Briggsdale to a 34-33 victory and a trip to the Final Four.
The Falcons will take on No. 1-seeded Caliche in the semifinals.
Eads 56, Dove Creek 26
The Eagles were dominant and impressive throughout with leads of 26-12 at the half and 39-17 at the end of the third.
Kailyn Lane (13 points), six-foot-one Tanaia Hansen (12 points), and Brittanie Newman (10 points), led a balanced attack for the Eagles.
Eads has nine state titles in girls basketball, with its last crown coming in 2008.
The Eagles will take on Norwood in the Final Four at 4:00 p.m.
Caliche 69, Cheraw 32
Caliche, the girls state title favorite, looked every bit as good as their hype with a dominant 19-0 start. The Buffaloes never looked back as they used all their speed, ball movement, and pressure defense to overwhelm the Wolverines and advance to the Final Four against Briggsdale.
Four Buffaloes scored in double figures led by Jessica Taylor’s 14 points.
The Caliche vs. Briggsdale matchup will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday.