AURORA | The Smoky Hill girls basketball qualified for the Class 6A state playoffs for the first time in four seasons and got its first postseason victory in much longer than that Wednesday night.
On their home floor, the 28th-seeded Buffaloes held 37th-seeded Fairview in single digits until the third quarter and rolled 50-26 to secure the program’s first playoff win in 13 seasons.
Junior Ari Boyd and sophomore Taylor Dirden scored 15 points apiece, while sophomore Leilani Gordon added 13 for Smoky Hill, which secured a postseason victory for the first time since the opening round of the 2012-2013 then-5A playoffs when it defeated Liberty before losing to Regis Jesuit in the second round.
Coach Shawn Dirden’s Buffaloes (14-10) will head to No. 5 Northfield (20-3) for a 2 p.m. Saturday looking to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2004.
Updated Class 6A girls state basketball playoff scoreboard and schedule, here
Smoky Hill finished sixth at the Centennial League Challenge to close the regular season and came in with 13 wins, the most for the program in least the past 20 seasons and a significant climb from five last season.
The Buffaloes started slow offensively against Fairview (12-12), but the Knights were stone cold and managed just a single point in the opening period and three more in the second as Smoky Hill built a 16-4 halftime edge.
The Knights pulled as close as nine near the midway point of the third quarter, but the Buffaloes went on a 15-0 run to blow the game open. Pressure defense netted a variety of uncontested points for Smoky Hill, which got 11 from Boyd in the pivotal period.
Taylor Dirden scored seven more in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer that pushed the lead as high as 30 points with 3:36 remaining and the Buffaloes never wavered down the stretch.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2026 CLASS 6A GIRLS STATE BASKETBALL 1ST ROUND PLAYOFF
(28) SMOKY HILL 50, (37) FAIRVIEW 26
Score by quarters:
Fairview 1 3 9 13 — 26
Smoky Hill 6 10 21 13 — 50
FAIRVIEW (26)
Violet Mura 3 2-6 9, Olivia Soto 1 2-2 5, Lola Graham 1 0-0 2, Camila Castruita 1 1-2 4, Vienna Dai 0 1-2 1, Joy Hanneman 1 0-0 3, Chloe Hickory 1 0-0 2, Matilda Rousu 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 6-12 26.
SMOKY HILL (50)
Serenity Davis 0 0-0 0, Taylor Dirden 7 0-2 15, Ari Boyd 4 6-8 15, Leilani Gordon 5 0-0 13, Jayda Vigil 1 0-1 2, Chloe Davis 1 0-0 2, Juanita Dixon 0 1-2 1, Sailor Roth 1 0-0 2, Emma Stangle 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 7-13 50.
3-point field goals — Fairview (4): Camila Castruita, Joy Hanneman, Violet Mura, Olivia Soto. Smoky Hill (5): Leilani Gordon 3, Ari Boyd, Taylor Dirden. Total fouls — Fairview 13, Smoky Hill 16. Fouled out — Fairview: Chloe Hickory. Technical fouls — None.