By Stephen Jiron

LOVELAND – Having won their district and regional championships not only did Sanford’s girls basketball team enter the post season seeded lower than their Southern Peaks League counterpart, Del Norte (23-2), they came in seeded last. Sanford pulled the challenge of No. 1 Limon in game one. Sanford proved equal to the task eliminating Limon from the championship bracket with a 46-38 win. 

Sanford matched pace with the top ranked Badgers going blow for blow to close out the first quarter trailing 10-8.  It seemed like things might get out of hand pretty quickly when Limon opened it up to a 16-10 lead late in the second quarter but in the final two minutes Sanford closed the distance to go to the half down16-14.

Refusing to go away, Chelsea Edgar came up big for Sanford in the third quarter draining both free throws to give Sanford their first lead of the game. A lay up from Lauren Canty and a trey from Mackenzie Peterson and it was a 29-25 lead for Sanford entering the final quarter of play. Though Limon would charge back and re-take the lead with two points inside from Anna Weisensee Sanford had clamped down and would not let Limon escape. Sanford just kept coming and something had to give it.

Two points from the paint by Sanford senior Lauren Canty and the girls in green would claim a four-point lead with two minutes to play. Canty paced all Sanford scorers with 11 points. While Limon would answer it wouldn’t matter. First Canty would go back to the line, then Peterson followed by Asia Caldon. Limon would not gain ground and Sanford would pull off the 8-1 upset.

Sanford defeated in semi-finals

Friday evening saw the championship round of the 2A State basketball tournament at Budweiser Event Center. On either side of the bracket the San Luis Valley had girls’ basketball of interest. In the 4 p.m. game Del Norte never got off the ground against the defending champs falling to Yuma 51-35. And Sanford’s defense couldn’t save them from their fouls falling to Swink 39-37 in the 7 p.m. game.

Sanford would get off to a slow start in the semifinal matchup watching Swink take a 8-3 lead after one. In the second frame Sanford would crank up the physicality but with it came fouls. Early in the in the second quarter Lauren Canty would commit Sanford’s seventh foul to put Swink in bonus. Swink would go the remainder of the half subsisting on Sanford’s aggression.

The Lions went 6-of-7 from the charity stripe to hold Sanford off going to the half up 16-13.

Both defenses would step up in the third quarter, Swink leading 22-18 setting up an 8-minute race to the finish. While the points continued to trickle in, every basket gained weight until the ball would fall to the bottom of the net like a stone.

A Canty trey would bring Sanford within 2 for Chelsea Edgar to tie the game at 26 points. Nykia Ruvolo put Sanford back in the driver’s seat with a free throw to go up 27-26 with under three minutes to play. Swink would fill those minutes with two free throws from Tierra Howard to get the Lions back in the ahead and a third one from Kyla O’Neal to make it a two-point game. In the final seconds a drive inside from Sanford’s Cheyenne Caldon was blocked with the ball falling to Swink to close out the game setting up a Swink-Yuma State Championship.

Tigers defeat Indians to take third place

In what was the fifth match-up between valley rivals, Del Norte’s Tigers took down Sanford by a score of 44-27 in the third place game at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland.

For the fifth time the two teams would meet in a fifth different city —games spanning La Junta, Alamosa, Del Norte and Sanford. Speaking on the match-up Del Norte Head Coach and CHSCA Coach of the Year Gilbert Sanchez gave Sanford’s defense full marks “I like their defense — they play great helpside and pack that paint, you get the ball anywhere close to the paint and they got two or three girls on it. It makes it a battle.”

Both teams showed wear and tear at the outset of the rematch. Del Norte would get going first thanks to five straight points from senior Emily Gallegos to put the Tigers up 8-4. Del Norte would continue to a 10-6 lead after one.

In the second half Del Norte would continue to pace Sanford to an 18-10 score. Unfortunately for the Tigers, just like their game with Yuma junior Kendra Parra would put herself in a precarious position with three first half fouls, prompting some bench time for the prolific scorer.

Sanford’s Asia Caldon would heat up in the second quarter with a three pointer followed by two free throws completing a five point run to get Sanford in position for a manageable second half. Caldon finished with 11 points good enough to lead Sanford in scoring. 

Instead it was Del Norte that would took the initiative in the second half. The Tigers  went on an 11-4 run to open up a ten-point lead thanks to four points each from seniors Sophia McConnell and Lacie Jones. 

A favorable situation tilted for Del Norte when Parra collected her fourth foul with 6 minutes remaining in the fourth followed swiftly by senior Kiela Madrid racking three quick ones to get to four herself.

With two girls on the brink of fouling out for Del Norte oddly enough it was Sanford who piled up infractions in the second half with 13 fouls in the final 16 minutes. Sanford would send Parra to the line five times in the fourth quarter where she would go 7-of-10, making up better than half of her team leading 13 points on the night.

Del Norte would separate themselves further in the waning minutes to complete the 17-point victory. With the win Del Norte claimed third place in the 2A Girls’ Basketball Tournament, placing Sanford fourth.

Both squads made major strides from their original seeding. Del Norte placed third after entering as the No. 6 seed while Sanford entered as the No. 8 seed and advanced to the fourth place spot.