DENVER | In a pendulum swing type of game both with momentum and emotion, the clock struck midnight on the Cherokee Trail girls basketball team’s state championship game hopes March 12 at the Denver Coliseum.
In a game that lacked significant flow in terms of play due to a whopping 50 fouls called — 25 on each team — the top-seeded Cougars roared out of the gate against fifth-seeded Northfield, fell behind and surged again before eventually falling 67-57 with a trip to the Class 6A state championship game on the line.
Coach Tammi Statewright’s Cherokee Trail team got a game-high 25 points from senior Chloe Cain and double-digit efforts from seniors Aaliyah Broadus and Karson Chaney, but came up a win short of playing for the state title for the second time in three seasons.
“It’s frustrating, because we get there and we get our feet on the edge and then we pull them back because we don’t want to take those leaps and bounds and do things outside ourselves,” Statewright said.
“You have to be mentally strong in a game like this and we were not. That is still a work in progress for us.”
The Cougars finished the season 23-4, with losses coming only to second-seeded Arapahoe (twice), to Northfield and to Sage Hill (Calif.) at the Nike Tournament of Champions.
Cherokee Trail played arguably its best game of the season in a Great 8 victory over ninth-seeded Legend (a 66-39 victory) and look primed for another strong performance at the outset against Northfield, as it raced out to a 15-6 lead after one quarter.
All five Cougars’ starters — Cain, Broadus, Chaney, sophomore Milania Gutierrez and senior Hannah Conger — had points in the opening period and the Nighthawks looked in disarray for the opening portion of the second quarter. A technical on Northfield coach Sydney Price for disputing a foul call sent Broadus to the free throw line and she made both to stretch the advantage to 23-11.
The rest of the half, however, belonged to the Nighthawks, who steadfastdly fed the ball into Delaney Dennis in the post. The junior exhibited remarkable touch in the paint and racked up 11 points as Northfield cut the deficit to five at the break.
The advantage sat at four points at critical point in the third period when Broadus — the team’s leading scorer in all three of its previous playoff games and a steadying presence — was called for her fourth foul after light contact and had to go to the bench.
The ensuing 2 minutes, 50 seconds, were disastrous for Cherokee Trail, which turned the ball over multiple times. Statewright tried to call timeouts to settle her team, but Northfield launched a 12-2 run to surge to a six-point lead at the end of the third quarter.
“Turnovers were our nemesis and we know if you ball pressure us, we’ll probably turn it over,” Statewright said. “We played against varsity boys in practice all week and we broke the press consistently, so to come out here and not be able to do it in a game was surprising.
“We also had some lazy turnovers and they really took advantage.”
Statewright said she and her staff set a goal of limiting turnover to 11 for the game, but they had already committed 15 by halftime and many more came in the second half.
The Nighthawks’ pressure threatened to crack the game open and a steal and layup by Paris Taylor made it 51-42 before the Cougars righted themselves and responded. Chaney converted a three-point play and made two free throws on the next possession, while Broadus returned and scored to cut the deficit to 51-49 with 4:51 left.
Cherokee Trail even got a steal and had a chance to tie the game, only to turn it over and have it result in a London Taylor layup on the other end. A Dennis layup pushed the lead back up to six and effectively took the win out of the sails for the Cougars.
Cherokee Trail will move forward next season with an exciting future for Cain (who played through a practice injury to her elbow that required stitches) and some other young players, though will miss the significant presences of Broadus (who is headed to play at Wichita State and tallied more than 1,000 points in her prep career) and Chaney (who has signed with Colorado State-Pueblo).
“Our seniors were huge and our young players are going to have to grown from this,” Statewright said.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2026 CLASS 6A GIRLS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
March 12 at Denver Coliseum
(5) NORTHFIELD 67, (1) CHEROKEE TRAIL 57
Score by quarters:
Northfield 6 19 19 23 — 67
Cher. Trail 15 15 8 19 — 57
NORTHFIELD (67)
Paris Taylor 2 0-2 4, London Taylor 5 6-7 16, Madison Bethel 4 7-8 16, Delaney Dennis 8 6-9 22, Ana Baseman 1 2-4 5, Faith Nelson 1 0-1 2, Zariya Jennings 0 2-2 2, Kennedy Fox 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 23-33 67.
CHEROKEE TRAIL (57)
Karson Chaney 3 4-6 10, Chloe Cain 7 10-11 25, Milania Gutierrez 1 0-2 2, Aaliyah Broadus 3 6-7 12, Hannah Conger 1 0-0 2, Hannah Hazim 1 1-4 4, Zoey Brandon 1 0-2 2, Chanel Stovall 0 0-2 0, Brooklyn Brown 0 0-2 0, Adalia Asgedom 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 21-36 57.
3-point field goals — Northfield (2): Ana Baseman, Madison Bethel. Cherokee Trail (2): Chloe Cain, Hannah Hazim. Total fouls — Northfield 25, Cherokee Trail 25. Fouled out — Northfield: Delaney Dennis. Cherokee Trail: Karson Chaney, Hannah Conger. Technical fouls — Northfield: Head coach