AURORA | A see-saw showdown finally ended with the Cherokee Trail girls basketball on top Wednesday night.
The Cougars (who sit No. 2 in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s latest Class 6A rankings) saw a double-digit second half lead disappear against Legend and trailed last season’s 6A state runner-up by three in the final seconds, but got new life when senior Karson Chaney banked in a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation.
Coach Tammi Traylor-Statewright’s Cherokee Trail team outscored the Titans 12-2 in the extra session — with 10 of the 12 points coming from sophomore Milania Gutierrez and freshman Chanel Stovall — en route to a 71-61 victory that improved it to 10-1.
“That game was literally like a box of chocolates,” Traylor-Statewright said. “We did the same thing in the first game against Legend (which Cherokee Trail beat 74-60 Dec. 13 in the final of the Cherry Creek Tournament), where we got a lead, then kept having turnovers and not valuing possessions. They can shoot and that’s how double-digit leads go away.”
The first meeting between Cherokee Trail and Legend (6-5) had freshman standout Chloe Cain in the lineup for the Cougars, but the rematch did not after she suffered an injury during the Cougars’ trip to the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix.
Without Cain (who averaged 16.7 points per game in the first 10 contests, but will miss significant time), Cherokee Trail got a monster effort from senior Aaliyah Broadus, who made six 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 27 points, while she was joined in double figures by Gutierrez with 12 and Stovall with 10.
Legend — which came in off a big win over Riverdale Ridge — got 22 points from Addyson Law.
Broadus made 13 3-pointers during the first 10 games of the season, but drained nearly half that many against the Titans, with her last triple coming just over a minute into the fourth quarter to give Cherokee Trail a 53-44 lead.
Legend caught fire from distance behind Law and ate up the entire advantage, then took a lead in the final minute on a layup by Maile Starns.
Broadus missed an inside shot that could have tied it and Starns got fouled with less than 10 seconds left with the chance to ice the game with two free throws. She made the first, but missed the second and the Cougars hustled the ball up the floor to Cheney, who banked in a deep shot from the wing as time expired to tie the game at 59-59.
“Karson is nursing a cold and at times I felt she wasn’t even with us, but that shot was big,” Traylor-Statewright said. “I think at first she didn’t realize she’d made the shot.”
Cherokee Trail owned overtime, as a 3-pointer by Stovall gave it the lead for good.
Gutierrez went 5-for-6 from the free throw line to preserve the lead, while Stovall made two free throws and assisted on a Broadus basket to account for the overtime scoring for the Cougars, who held the Titans to just one basket in the extra four minutes.
Cherokee Trail heads to Erie (6-2) for a 6:30 p.m. contest Friday.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(2) CHEROKEE TRAIL 71, LEGEND 61 (OT)
Score by quarters:
Legend 14 12 16 17 2 — 61
Cher. Trail 15 16 16 12 12 — 71
LEGEND (61)
Tatum Burke 1 0-0 2, Amya Sparks 1 0-0 2, Maile Starns 4 2-4 10, Addyson Law 8 2-2 22, Rhya Matoush 1 3-6 5, Marley Pickett 4 0-0 8, Lucy Thompson 1 0-0 2, Jaida Reuter 4 1-4 10. Totals 24 8-16 61.
CHEROKEE TRAIL (71)
Karson Chaney 2 0-0 6, Milania Gutierrez 3 5-6 12, Aaliyah Broadus 9 3-5 27, Hannah Hazim 2 1-2 6, Hannah Conger 2 4-4 8, Chanel Stovall 3 3-3 10, Zoey Brandon 1 0-1 2. Totals 22 16-21 71.
3-point field goals — Legend (5): Addyson Law 4, Jaida Reuter. Cherokee Trail (11): Aaliyah Broadus 6, Karson Chaney 2, Milania Gutierrez, Hannah Hazim, Chanell Stovall.
