Broomfield girls basketball celebrates its win on Thursday. More photos. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
BOULDER — Broomfield will get its shot at a storybook ending for longtime coach Mike Croell and its stellar senior class.
The Eagles advanced to Saturday’s Class 5A girls basketball championship game at the Coors Events Center with a 71-42 win Thursday night in Boulder against Cherry Creek in the state semifinals.
“I know I always wanted to be in this position, but we’ve got to finish,” said Croell, who will retire from coaching after Saturday’s 5A title game. “We’ve got to finish the deal now. Enjoy it tonight, but it’s back to work tomorrow to seal the deal.”
Broomfield enjoyed an impressive start in its semifinal. The Eagles dominated early taking an 11-0 lead through the first minutes of the game. All five seniors starters — Callie Kaiser, Maddie Kern, Nicole Lehrer, Brenna Chase and Brenna Fankell — scored in the opening quarter as the Eagles held a 24-8 lead after eight minutes.
“We just game out strong and fast,” said Kaiser, who finished with a game-high 23 points. “We knew if we did that everything else would take care of itself. It did.”
Broomfield pushed its lead to as many as 35 points in the fourth quarter before both teams emptied its benches. Fankell finished with a double-double (20 points and 11 rebounds). The Eagles’ starting five combined to score 67 of Broomfield’s 71 points.
“They (starting five) have been here before and they are very well grounded. They are happy, but they aren’t gitty, goofy happy,” Croell said. “They still have a sour taste in their mouth of what happened last year. They don’t want that to happen again.”
More photos. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Croell, who took over Broomfield’s program to start the 1995-96 season, has his Eagles riding a 21-game winning streak heading in the championship game scheduled for a 3 p.m. tip off in Boulder.
Broomfield won five consecutive 4A state titles from 2007-11. The Eagles came up one win short last season of winning a sixth state title under Croell. Mesa Ridge edged Broomfield 45-41 in the 4A championship game last season in Boulder before the Eagles moved up to the 5A classification.
Kaiser, who will continue her basketball career at Colorado State University, admitted she thinks about last year’s 4A championship loss daily.
“We’re glad to be back and really to redeem ourselves,” Kaiser said.
Moving up to 5A presented a different hurdle for Broomfield this season. The Eagles (25-2 record) have handled it well. Broomfield’s lone two losses came to ThunderRidge, who played Monarch in the other semifinal Thursday night.
“We were definitely looking forward to that challenge and being pushed,” Fankell said of playing in 5A. “It shows we can play with the best of them.”
Now there is just one question left for the Eagles: Will Broomfield claim a sixth girls basketball title under Croell’s tenure?
“We definitely want to play for coach Croell because it’s his last season. We want to win it for him and win it for our seniors,” Fankell said. “I wouldn’t want to be on the court with anyone else.”
Cherry Creek (19-8) started three sophomores and a freshman in the semifinal. The Bruins’ lone senior starter Molly Rohrer keep the Bruins afloat with 13 points in the opening half, but Broomfield still led 39-21 at halftime. Rohrer finished with 15 points to lead Cherry Creek.
“Creek is a good young team,” Croell said. “They’ll be back.”
It was the first Final 4 appearance for Cherry Creek since 2004. The Bruins lost to ThunderRidge in the title game that year. Cherry Creek also came up a win short losing the championship game in 1999.
While Cherry Creek’s historically decorated girls athletic programs have plenty of hardware, the Bruins have never won a girls basketball state title.