AURORA | The Cherokee Trail girls basketball team needed to show its defensive mettle Saturday afternoon with the state’s leading scorer coming into its gym.
No. 22 Mountain Vista and junior Kennedy Spellman — who averaged just under 27 points per game in the regular season — visited the 11th-ranked Cougars for a Class 6A first round state playoff game where points could have come in abundance.
They did for coach Tammi Traylor-Statewright’s Cherokee Trail team — which amassed its third-highest point total of the season — while it held the Golden Eagles to 25 points below their season average in a 73-39 home victory. The Cougars (15-9) head to the Sweet 16 for a third straight season and will play at No. 6 Highlands Ranch (21-3) at 7 p.m. March 5.
“We are a defensive-minded team and defense is definitely our best offense,” Traylor-Statewright said. “We’re preaching to the girls to follow the scouting report and make sure you are paying attention. Generally, our girls do a good job when they come together and trust the process. We definitely did that in this game.”
Cherokee Trail is one of three Aurora area teams that earned their way into the Sweet 16, as it joins No. 1 Grandview (which downed No. 33 Horizon) and No. 10 Regis Jesuit (which topped No. 23 Arapahoe, story). No. 25 Eaglecrest, No. 28 Overland, No. 34 Vista PEAK Prep and No. 36 Rangeview all went down to defeat.
Updated 2025 Class 6A girls basketball state scoreboard & schedule, here
The combination of a flurry of quality outside shooting — which produced nine 3-pointers — plus plenty of transition baskets created by steals or getting out on defensive rebounds, Cherokee Trail put up a point total only below the 84 it generated against Vista PEAK Prep and 74 tallied against Arapahoe.
Seniors Ryen Galloway and Delainey Miller scored 12 points apiece to pace the Cougars, which also got 10 from freshman Milania Gutierrez plus nine from senior Ava Peleaz and eight from junior Aaliyah Broadus.
Mountain Vista (15-9) still got 17 points from Spellman — who came into the game with a streak of five straight 20-plus point games — but most came after the outcome of the game had been largely decided.
The Golden Eagles did get on the scoreboard first with an early 3-pointer, but that was their only lead of the contest. A Miller inside hoop capped a 9-0 run to put the Cougars into the lead and they built a double-digit lead after one quarter after junior Karson Chaney knocked down a 3-pointer before the horn.
The Cherokee Trail lead surged to 19 points when Galloway converted a transition layup and knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:13 left in the half, which ended with a 39-24 lead. Gutierrez made a spinning layup with 12 seconds left in the third quarter to boost the lead to 26 and her 3-pointer just past the midway point of the fourth bumped it to 30.
Next up is another Continental League team — Highlands Ranch — in a rematch of a 6A Sweet 16 contest from last season. The Cougars (who lost to the Falcons in the second round of the 2021-22 postseason) won that one 54-30 on their way to the Final Four.
“I love coaching against Caryn Jarocki, she makes you think,” Traylor-Statewright said of the Highlands Ranch coach, who tops Colorado’s all-time wins list in girls basketball.
“Against Mountain Vista, we were stopping two people — two very good people — but going into Ranch, we have to stop a team,” she added. “Her kids play smart, so it will be a challenge. We have to have the same team that played against Mountain Vista show up for this one, too.”
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
CLASS 6A GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS (1ST ROUND)
(11) CHEROKEE TRAIL 73, (22) MOUNTAIN VISTA 39
Score by quarters:
Mtn. Vista 7 17 6 9 — 39
Cher. Trail 17 22 17 17 — 73
MOUNTAIN VISTA (39)
Ariana Akey 0 0-0 0, Kiarra Spellman 4 2-4 12, Kennedy Spellman 5 5-7 17, Kylie Brookfield 1 2-3 4, Leanna Rivera 1 0-0 3, Riley Rivera 1 1-2 3, Rachel Hillard 0 0-2 0. Totals 12 10-18 39.
CHEROKEE TRAIL (73)
Madeline Gibbs 2 0-0 8, Selah Davis 1 1-2 3, Aaliyah Broadus 2 3-4 8, Ryen Galloway 5 0-0 12, Delainey Miller 4 4-6 12, Karson Chaney 2 0-0 6, Ava Pelaez 3 2-2 9, Milania Gutierrez 4 1-2 10, Hannah Conger 1 1-2 3, Hannah Hazim 0 2-2 2. Totals 22 14-20 73.
3-point field goals — Mountain Vista (5): Kennedy Spellman 2, Kiarra Spellman 2, Leanna Rivera. Cherokee Trail (9): Karson Chaney 2, Ryen Galloway 2, Madeline Gibbs 2, Aaliyah Broadus, Milania Gutierrez, Ava Pelaez. Total fouls — Mountain Vista 18, Cherokee Trail 19. Fouled out — Mountain Vista: Kennedy Spellman. Technical fouls — None.
