DENVER | The Cherokee Trail girls basketball team got to play at the Denver Coliseum for the first time ever Thursday and they’ll get a chance to see what they can do on the same floor with higher stakes to come.
The top-seeded Cougars had difficult knocking down shots in the early going in the new venue, but eventually got some separation from Centennial League rival and ninth-seeded Mullen on their way to a 47-39 victory that earned them their first Final Four berth.
Junior Delainey Miller finished with a game-high 19 points — including 13 in the second half alone — while junior Madeline Gibbs knocked down three 3-pointers on her way to 11 as coach Tammi Traylor-Statewright’s team moved to 24-2 on the season.
“I have a lot of emotions — too many right now — but this has been awesome,” Traylor-Statewright said after her team added another chapter to its program history-making story.
“The nerves of finally being here, then being down (at halftime) for the first time and then pulling through. It has been awesome.”
The Cougars will return to the Denver Coliseum March 7 to face No. 4 Valor Christian (21-4), which advanced with a 60-44 win over No. 12 Rock Canyon. A second Aurora team will be in the semifinal mix as No. 7 Regis Jesuit will play No. 3 Legend on the other side of the bracket.
In the third meeting of the season between the two Centennial League programs — Cherokee Trail had won the first two — it took several minutes before either team got on the scoreboard. The Cougars moved out to a 12-8 lead by the end of the opening quarter as four of their five starters had at least one basket.
Sophomore Karson Chaney boosted that lead to 14-8 in the opening minute of the second quarter, but the Mustangs scored the next 14 points to go up by as many as eight points. Not only did Cherokee Trail’s shots not fall, but the Mustangs were awarded eight trips to the free throw line and made seven of them.
Miller and Gibbs made much-needed baskets late in the period for the Cougars, but a layup by Mullen’s Makenzie Jones before the buzzer gave Mullen a five-point lead.
“We put a lot of emphasis on the third quarter,” Gibbs said. “Our coach made sure we were executing our offense, playing good defense and doing all the little things to get us back into the game.”
Trailing for the first time at halftime all season, Cherokee Trail had a 15-3 scoring advantage in the third quarter in which it held the Mustangs without a field goal.
The Mustangs even got the first two points of the quarter, but only one more in the remaining 7:38 of the period as the Cougars built a 32-27 lead. Miller had a lot to do with the surge, as she worked hard in the paint and scored seven points in the period on putbacks or foul shots, while she also had a nice assist to senior Damara Allen as Cherokee Trail finally got some transition scoring.
Undeterred, Mullen got a boost early in the final quarter from Jones and eventually forged a 36-36 tie with 3:50 left.
A Gibbs 3-pointer broke the tie, sophomore Aaliyah Broadus boosted the lead with a layup and the Cougars finished it off with four more points from Miller in crunch time.
“When we have a lead late, they get comfy, their eyes open up and they see the floor better,” Traylor-Statewright said. “I do expect that we’ll play better the next time out here. I don’t think the space bothered them since we played at the Section 7 facility in Arizona, but I think it bothered them that their shots weren’t falling.”
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(1) CHEROKEE TRAIL 47, (9) MULLEN 39
Score by quarters:
Mullen 8 16 3 12 — 39
Cher. Trail 12 7 15 13 — 47
MULLEN (39)
Keaton Arangua-Egbert 2 2-2 7, Makenzie Jones 3 4-4 11, Chloe Pelster 2 2-2 7, Allison Schwertner 3 3-4 10, Tatum Jones 0 2-4 2, Ryker Thomas 1 0-0 2, Zaraiyi Garcia 0 0-0 0, Annie Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 13-16 39.
CHEROKEE TRAIL (47)
Karson Chaney 2 1-2 5, Madeline Gibbs 4 0-0 11, Talia Strode 1 0-0 2, Damara Allen 3 0-0 6, Delainey Miller 6 7-8 19, Aaliyah Broadus 2 0-0 4, Kynli Hart 0 0-0 0, Ryen Galloway 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 8-10 47.
3-point field goals — Mullen (4): Keaton Arangua-Egbert, Makenzie Jones, Chloe Pelster, Allison Schwertner. Cherokee Trail (3): Madeline Gibbs 3. Total fouls — Mullen 13, Cherokee Trail 12. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
