AURORA | The Grandview girls basketball team got to relive the magic of its recently completed 2022-23 season in front of peers, family and faculty Wednesday morning at a celebratory assembly in the school’s gym.
The Wolves completed a run to the Class 6A state championship — the second straight for the program and fourth all-time — last month as the No. 11 seed in the 32-team field. They defeated No. 22 Douglas County to open the playoffs and got past No. 6 Fountain-Fort Carson to reach the Denver Coliseum, where they took down No. 3 Highlands Ranch in the Great 8, No. 2 Cherry Creek in the semifinals and No. 4 Monarch 38-28 in the title game.
Individually, sophomore star Sienna Betts received the banner for her winning Colorado’s Gatorade Player of the Year award — which will hang on the wall alongside those from her sister, Lauren, winner of the accolade for the previous two seasons — and coach Josh Ulitzky was honored as CHSAANow’s 6A girls coach of the year and winner of the John Wooden Legacy award.
“We got to feel it and show off what we did,” Betts said. “It’s really awesome and it feels really good to do it with my friends.”
PHOTO GALLERY OF GRANDVIEW’S CELEBRATORY ASSEMBLY, HERE
Along with Grandview’s winners of a Daniels Fund Scholarship, its CyberPatriot team and its all-state band/choir members, the girls basketball team was introduced individually and then presented the state championship trophy to principal Lisa Sprague.
There was laughter as pictures flashed on the scoreboard from the championship game, synched to the song “One Shining Moment” that typically closes out the NCAA basketball tournament.
The celebration concluded with another NCAA-style tradition in which each member of the team and coaches climbed a ladder to snip off part of the net on one of the hoops as a memento of the championship.
It was especially special to the team’s seniors, Isa Dillehay, Sydnie McClain and Benedicte Kalala, who all started the championship game.
“This is probably one of the best memories I’m going to have of my senior year,” McClain said. “I’m so thankful I got to do it with my best friends and my family. They are family now.”
Added Kalala: “It’s just really special.”
“That was really fun,” Dillehay said. “It was great to have our classmates here.”
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
