AURORA | If Saturday night’s clash between the Grandview and Valor Christian girls basketball teams is a Class 5A state championship game appetizer, the real thing in two months time is set up to be a sumptuous feast.
Of course that’s a long way away and several other teams will have a say, but the two powerhouses looked the part of championship contenders as many predicted coming into the season when they met up in non-league play in front of a packed house at Grandview.
The Wolves came into the matchup ranked third in 5A despite a 2-7 record — the product of playing in two loaded out of state tournaments plus a loss to Centennial League power Mullen early — against the top-ranked Eagles, the defending state champions, who were off to a 7-2 start. Coach Josh Ulitzky’s Grandview team built a double-digit lead and held on for a massive 59-52 victory.
SmugMug photo gallery from the Grandview vs. Valor Christian game, here
“It was a good win for us, I was really proud of them,” said Ulitzky, who was ambushed and soaked with celebratory water in the lockerroom afterwards. “We were able to build a good lead, they came back and then we were able to sustain it a little bit at the end.
“We’re going to see them again, so we’ll have to be prepared for that.”
Senior guards Auto Thomas and Amaya Charles played pivotal roles defensively in the second half and contributed 16 and 12 points, respectively, while senior Marya Hudgins scored 13 points and 10 more came from senior Lauren Betts, who dueled all night in the post with Valor Christian star Raegan Beers.
Hudgins converted a variety of transition baskets on her way to eight points in the second period, which helped the Wolves go up by as many as eight points. Beers — a 6-foot-3 Oregon State signee who battled against the 6-7 Betts, a Stanford signee — banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Grandview advantage to five at the break.
Thomas scored 10 points in the second half to tie her career high — achieved twice her sophomore year while she was at Cherokee Trail — and opened the second half with a 3-pointer that jump-started Grandview. An and-one layup for Thomas that followed a Hudgins 3-pointer pushed the Wolves to a 16-point advantage late in the third period.
In desperation mode, the Eagles upped their pressure and converted a number of turnovers into points, while Grandview helped them with a few missed free throws down the stretch as the game tightened up. Charles, however, had ice water in her veins by going 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to help seal the result.
“I feel like all the adrenaline and energy made me just focus and think these are the free throws I have to make,” Charles said. “I just went up there and knocked them down.”
Grandview snapped Valor Christian’s 19-game winning streak against Colorado teams that stretched all the way back to the semifinals of the 2019-20 5A state tournament, when the Wolves defeated the Eagles to make a state championship game that was eventually wiped out due to the advent of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Wolves have dealt Valor Christian four defeats over the past four seasons, while no other Colorado program has been able to beat the Eagles in that span. The last team other than Grandview to top Valor Christian was Pueblo South back in the 4A playoffs on Feb. 27, 2018.
Grandview returns to action on Jan. 13 at home against Cherry Creek.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(3) GRANDVIEW 59, (1) VALOR CHRISTIAN 52
Score by quarters:
Valor Christian 13 10 7 22 — 52
Grandview 10 18 16 15 — 59
VALOR CHRISTIAN (52)
Macey Huard 5 2-4 13, Mariah Hillard 1 0-0 2, Quinn VanSickle 7 2-3 17, Raegan Beers 5 0-0 12, Alyssa Faberowski 1 3-6 6, Emma Lytle 1 0-0 2, Sydney Baller 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 7-13 52
GRANDVIEW (59)
Amaya Charles 3 4-5 12, Sienna Betts 3 0-3 6, Auto Thomas 6 3-3 16, Marya Hudgins 5 2-4 13, Lauren Betts 5 0-1 10, Gabriella Cunningham 1 0-1 2, Isa Dillehay 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 9-17 59.
3-point field goals — Valor Christian (5): Raegan Beers 2, Alyssa Faberowski, Macey Huard, Quinn VanSickle. Grandview (4): Amaya Charles 2, Marya Hudgins, Auto Thomas. Total fouls — Valor Christian 21, Grandview 10. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
