IHS strong early in each Loveland contest

Whether they know it or not, every basketball coach has a little Gene Hackman inside.

And after his players got their first look at the spacious (capacity 7,200) Budweiser Events Center, its temporary court constructed atop the minor-league Colorado Eagles’ covered hockey ice, Shane Seibel jumped at the chance to let his out.

For both the CHSAA Class 2A State Championships’ eighth-seeded Lady Bobcats as well as himself.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever been in here, and it’s like, ‘Yes! Beautiful!’ And they got to watch ‘Hoosiers,’” he said, referring to the iconic movie featuring the aforementioned star portraying a fictitious team’s head coach. “So I got to talk about bringing the tape measure: ‘It’s still ten foot … We’ve still got the same three-point line, the free-throw line is the same distance …”

“They were a little intimidated – just like us coaches – in a way, just to appreciate the arena,” Seibel continued. “But they tried … they really did. I was excited for them.”

“We talked to each other, said like, ‘This is our house. No matter what people say … we’re coming to dominate here,’” said freshman center Morgan Herrera. “And we were trying our hardest.”

And against both top-seeded Yuma, last season’s State Champion and participant in the last four grand finales, on Thursday, Mar. 9, and No. 5 Simla the next day, Ignacio brought underdog energy and threatened to make school history – IHS Girls’ Basketball had never won a game in a season’s final phase – at the expense of both.

Having trailed by two points on two occasions during the tournament’s very first quarter, YHS found itself even with IHS after eight minutes, 7-7, and led by a shaky 13-8 margin at halftime. With most of its players somewhat familiar with the Lady ’Cats from volleyball season, SHS led by only two points (12-10) after one quarter, three (26-23) after two and five (34-29) after three.

“It was exciting,” Herrera said. “Our team was hungry, we were all clicking.”

Unfortunately, victory in either the initial ‘Great Eight’ or subsequent consolation-bracket semifinals was not to be had. Junior Avery Whitehead cashed two three-pointers for Yuma during a strong third quarter – won 17-4 by the Lady Indians – and, highlighted by a trey concluding the third, sophomore star Cody Robinson netted 14 of her game-high 19 points after intermission to power YHS to a 43-18 win.

Benefiting from foul after foul – resulting in senior guard/forward Alejandra Lujan (2:13 left in the third quarter), junior guard Avionne Gomez (4:36 left in the fourth) and Herrera (2:27 left in the fourth) all fouling out – the Lady Cubs pulled away via 7-of-14 work at the charity stripe during the final frame and prevailed 47-34.

Able to drain three triples and four FT’s in six tries, Gomez bounced back from a scoreless showing against Yuma to lead all players with her 13 points versus Simla. Freshman forward Makayla Howell, also blanked by the Lady Indians’ physical posts, got SHS for nine points in the second quarter and totaled 11.

Herrera logged seven points on Day 1 and four on Day 2, but was just 5-of-12 accurate at the foul line. Lujan registered a team-best eight points against YHS before fouling out with 2:31 remaining, and then fought for three against SHS – which got 12 from junior guard/forward Jerraldawn Rector (4-4 FT), ten from sophomore guard Kegan Hamacher (6-8 FT) and nine from freshman forward/guard Taylor Warnecke (1-7 FT).

Sophomore reserve guard Heile Pearson, however, punctuated IHS’ special season with a confident three-pointer and the squad – set to lose Lujan, injured guard Tori Archuleta, and varsity/JV swing players Rachel Cooper, Sharmaine Price and Jade Richards to graduation – began focusing on a return in 2018.

“It made us hungry to play [Yuma],” said Herrera. “Being the number-eight team playing the number-one, we wanted to make them sore if we didn’t win. We … didn’t want them to be able to pass a ball the next day!”

“It’s a learning experience, and it’s very exciting – my nerves are still, like … I can’t explain it! But it’s making me feel so good; I’m just really happy to be here.”

“Scrapped, scratched and clawed … We just didn’t get our offense going,” Seibel said. “It’s not life-or-death, it’s a basketball game. You lose to a better team? You shake their hand and shake it off. Cry if you’ve got to cry … but you let it out and then you move on.”

“Get your mind clear, your body right and your spirit right to get your focus,” he continued. “We’re going to learn from this. We’ll pick ourselves up and get after it with the idea that we’re going to make history by being the first team to win a game up here! That’s our goal! Let’s not let it slip away.”

“I’m so proud of the girls.”

Or as Hackman said in the famous flick, ‘I love you guys.’

AFTERMATH

Yuma’s bid for a fifth consecutive State Championship appearance was denied on Day 2. Facing 4-seed Wray for a fifth time this winter, the Lady Indians fell 46-44 but regrouped to save third place the next afternoon with a 46-40 win over No. 3 Del Norte and finish – like the defeated Lady Tigers – with a 22-4 record.

WHS, meanwhile, would place second after falling 59-42 to undefeated 2-seed Paonia (25-0) in the title game – leaving them 19-7 overall for the 2016-17 campaign.

Simla would finish 20-6 after losing 59-43 to No. 6 Haxtun (21-5) in the consolation championship, leaving Ignacio (16-8) and 7-seed Swink (20-4) as the two crews not officially placing.

2017 CLASS 2A GIRLS STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Budweiser Events Center, Loveland, CO

“Great Eight” Thursday, Mar. 9 – No. 8 IGNACIO 18, at No. 1 Yuma 43:

IGNACIO (7-1-4-6) 18: M.Howell 0 0-0 0, L.Gallegos 1 0-0 3, A.Lujan 3 2-2 8, A.Gomez 0 0-2 0, M.Herrera 2 3-4 7, K.Valdez 0 0-0 0, P.Lyon 0 0-0 0, R.Cooper 0 0-0 0, S.Cox 0 0-0 0, H.Pearson 0 0-0 0, S.Price 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 6 5-8 18. 3-POINTERS: Gallegos. FOULED OUT: Lujan (2:31 left, Q4).

Yuma (7-6-17-13) 43: K.Roth 1 0-0 3, C.Robinson 5 8-11 19, C.Blach 2 2-4 6, A.Whitehead 4 0-0 10, K.Rayl 1 0-0 2, R.Nolin 0 2-2 2, L.Bustillos 0 0-0 0, M.Reyes 0 0-0 0, K.Arvizo 0 0-0 0, S.Leifheit 0 0-0 0, V.Escobar 0 1-2 1, B.Arvizo 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 13-19 43. 3-POINTERS: Whitehead 2, Robinson, Roth. FOULED OUT: None.

Consolation Semifinal #1 Friday, Mar. 10 – No. 8 IGNACIO 34, at No. 5 Simla 47:

IGNACIO (10-13-6-5) 34: M.Howell 4 3-3 11, L.Gallegos 0 0-0 0, A.Lujan 1 1-1 3, A.Gomez 3 4-6 13, M.Herrera 1 2-8 4, K.Valdez 0 0-0 0, P.Lyon 0 0-0 0, R.Cooper 0 0-0 0, S.Cox 0 0-0 0, H.Pearson 1 0-0 3, S.Price 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 10 10-18 34. 3-POINTERS: Gomez 3, Pearson. FOULED OUT: Lujan (2:13 left, Q3), Gomez (4:36 left, Q4), Herrera (2:27 left, Q4).

Simla (12-14-8-13) 47: T.Warnecke 4 1-7 9, K.Hamacher 2 6-8 10, C.Duffy 3 1-3 7, J.Rector 3 4-4 12, A.Robison 1 4-5 6, E.Sellers 0 3-6 3, P.Harms 0 0-0 0, M.Mazerall 0 0-0 0, D.Sotomayor 0 0-0 0, E.Rivas 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 19-33 47. 3-POINTERS: Rector 2. FOULED OUT: None.

– compiled by Joel Priest