Manitou Springs moved to the Final 4. More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
GOLDEN – With Manitou Springs needing a little bit of a spark Thursday night, Shelby Megyeri turned into a wrecking ball on both ends of the floor.
The sophomore was all over the place down the stretch for the Mustangs in the Class 3A state girls basketball quarterfinals, forcing turnovers, drawing fouls and driving to the basket for layups. Megyeri finished with a game-high 16 points, and Manitou Springs rode an impressive defensive performance to a 50-44 victory over Eaton and a berth in Friday’s semifinals at Lockridge Arena on the Colorado School of Mines campus.
“It’s a great feeling. I’ve never experienced it,” Megyeri said. “I’m only a sophomore and I’ve only been to state (once). We got to state last year but we lost our first game. This is a new feeling – it’s hard to explain, but I’ve got the chills thinking about it.”
Manitou Springs (23-2) takes on top-seeded Sterling (25-0) at 4 p.m., with Pagosa Springs (24-0) meeting Lutheran (24-1) at 7 p.m. in Golden.
“We’ve very excited. Sterling’s a great basketball team,” Mustangs coach Jon Asp said. “I feel like we rise to the occasion against good teams.”
Eaton led 37-32 late in the third quarter before Brooke Garretson knocked down a pair of free throws. Megyeri then picked off two passes that led to layups.
A Jayla Jarnigan 3-pointer put Eaton back up 42-38, but the Mustangs rallied again. After Shelby Hard cut the lead to two points, Megyeri and Garretson combined to score the team’s final 10 points.
Eaton was limited to only five points in the fourth quarter.
“From here on out we had eight strong teams, and I told the girls at halftime we can’t outscore any of these teams here,” Asp said. “We’ve got to step it up on the defensive end and that starts with boxing out. We boxed out awful that first half.”
Eaton junior Bailey Schumacher scored 13 points in the first half but was held scoreless over the final two quarters. Caiden Rexius added 11 points for the Reds.
“Eaton’s a strong team and I felt like they had the momentum most of the game,” Asp said. “But I think our advantage is we’ve won a lot of close games these last two years. We’ve been in a lot of tough games and we’ve been able to pull it out and win those.”
(1) Sterling 51, (25) Liberty Common 36
The Tigers remained undefeated thanks in large part to a first-quarter surge that saw Sterling outscore the Eagles 16-5.
Jenna Knudson led Sterling with 26 points, including a 14-of-17 effort from the free-throw line.
Molly Gillis led Liberty Common with 12 points.
(2) Pagosa Springs 48, (10) Centauri 33
Payton Shahan scored 16 points and Morgan Schaaf added 10 as the Pirates moved into the semifinals with an impressive showing against Centauri.
Schaaf added seven rebounds and six blocked shots.
The Falcons shot just 26.3 percent in the first half and 23 turnovers. Ember Canty led Centauri with 13 points.
(3) Lutheran 61, (6) Moffat County 32
Four Lions players finished in double figures as Lutheran rolled into the 3A semifinals one year removed from winning the 2A state championship.
Chandler Sturms led Lutheran with 16 points. Kaleigh Paplow and Kristen Vigil added 12 points each and Cara Thomas chipped in with 11 points.