BOULDER – With no time left to think, Logan Newhall put up the most important shot of the season for Evergreen’s girls basketball team.
As the ball dropped through the net, the Cougars had a split-second to breathe a collective sigh of relief – and then the celebration began.
Newhall’s last-second layup put the exclamation point on a terrific start to the Class 4A state girls semifinals Thursday at Coors Events Center in Boulder. The senior capped a tense 36 minutes of play with the game-winner, sending Evergreen past Sand Creek 71-70 in overtime and into the 4A state title game Saturday afternoon.
Evergreen (24-3) will be playing for its first state championship when the Cougars take the floor at 1 p.m. against either Valor Christian, which beat Holy Family.
“I think the shock still needs to wear off,” Cougars coach Amy Bahl said. “It’s amazing. It feels great. I’m on cloud nine, floating right now.”
Evergreen is headed to its first title game. More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Evergreen snapped the Scorpions’ 24-game winning streak and withstood a state tournament record-tying 43 points from Sand Creek’s Oliana Squires. The senior had tied the game with a clutch 3-pointer with 25 seconds left in regulation, but the Scorpions (24-2) just missed a last-second layup to force overtime.
“I knew she was going to get those points – maybe not that many, but I knew she would score quite a bit of their points,” Bahl said. “We just had to let it go and move on to the next player. I think the girls obviously responded to that.”
Neither team gave an inch in OT. Squires tied the game at 68-68, and then stole the ball with 22.4 seconds left before being fouled. She hit both free throws to give the Scorpions the lead, and Evergreen freshman Claudia Dillon hit 1-of-2 attempts on the other end to make it a one-point game.
Sand Creek’s Deja Derrell missed a free throw on the other end, and a lane violation on the second attempt gave the Cougars the ball back with 6.9 seconds remaining. On the inbounds to Dillon, the freshman beat the press and dished the ball to Newhall, who drove the lane and connected.
So what was running through her mind?
“It’s now or never,” Newhall said. “If you’re going to shoot it, you better shoot it now. I’m just really glad it went in.
“Everyone at the end of the game I think kept their composure really well,” Newhall added. “So everyone did a great job. Claudia did a great pass to me for the end shot. It was really just a team effort.”
The Cougars looked like they might start to pull away in the third quarter after taking a 42-33 lead. But Sand Creek went on a 9-0 run to close out the quarter and hit the first two shots of the fourth.
After enduring a cold spell, Evergreen rebounded behind the play of Samantha Kisiel. The senior scored 14 consecutive points midway through the fourth quarter and finished with 20 on the day.
“I was like ‘I’m not going to lose. This could be my last game right now and I’m not going to let it get away,’” Kisiel said. “So I stepped up. I knew I was going to have to at some point.”
Dillon added 14 points for Evergreen and Hannah Orr scored 11. The team outrebounded Sand Creek 37-26 and overcame 23 turnovers.
“I knew it was going to be tough. I knew either team could get it in the end,” Newhall said. “Which obviously showed with the back-and-forth of the game.”
Squires was 13-of-21 in her final game for Sand Creek. Her 43 points tied the output of Grandview’s Michaela Onyenwere a year ago, and Ridgway’s Tracy Hill in 1982. Liah Davis added 18 points and eight rebounds.