Congratulation to your Class 1A Girls State Champions and State Tournament Recap
Congratulations to the Briggsdale Falcons on winning the Class 1A State Championship. Briggsdale goes back-to-back winning the State Tournament in 2023 and 2024. Briggsdale solidifies a fantastic season!
The Class 1A Girls State Tournament was loaded. In my opinion the top 8 teams all reached the State Tournament and would make for some great contests. I think most people believed that the top 4 seeds were the main contenders for the State Title. The opening round saw two games stay in single figures. #4 Briggsdale would defeat #5 Idalia 54 to 46. This was a close game and would see Jenna Krise score just 13 points. Idalia had a great game plan, but Briggsdale was able to use a huge fourth quarter to pull away and advance. The other close game was #2 Stratton over #7 Eads 43 to 35. Stratton looked to be in control heading into halftime with a 23 to 10 score. Eads would have other plans outscoring Stratton 14 to 7 in the third quarter and pushing Stratton to the end buzzer. Stratton would win the fourth quarter 13 to 11 and get the win to advance. The other opening round games were McClave over Kit Carson 67 to 47 and Flatirons Academy over Dove Creek 49 to 29. The top four seeds all advanced into the semifinals.
The consolation semifinals would see a pair of close games. The first was Idalia over Kit Carson 48 to 41. Idalia would see three girls score in double figures to help them advance to the Consolation Championship. The other was Dove Creek securing the 37 to 32 win over Eads. This was a hard-fought game that was closely contested the entire way. Dove Creek got some clutch scoring to end the game and secure their spot in the Consolation Championship.
The Championship Semifinals featured the top four seeds and one game would come down to the wire. First game to mention is #2 Stratton vs #3 Flatirons Academy. Flatirons Academy would set the ton in the first quarter holding a 13 to 5 lead. Stratton would wake up in the second quarter outscoring Flatirons Academy 20 to 3 and taking a 25 to 16 lead into halftime. Stratton would let Flatirons Academy cut into their lead in the third quarter but Stratton closed things out strong going on a 16 to 1 run in the fourth quarter to secure their spot in the State Championship. The other semifinal was a dandy! #1 McClave would face #4 Briggsdale. This was a rematch of last year’s state championship. Briggsdale would start the game on fire going on a 14-0 run to set the tone. McClave would respond with a big run themselves and would outscore Briggsdale 11 to 4 in the second quarter. Briggsdale would hold the narrow 18 to 16 lead at halftime. McClave would come out right after halftime and take the lead 19 to 18 and would continue to push the lead forward and outscore Briggsdale 23 to 15. This is when the drama truly starts. Briggsdale would then respond with a monster fourth quarter. McClave led 43 to 38 with 4 minutes to go. Briggsdale would cut the lead to just 1 behind a four-point run by Jenna Krise. Emily Melgoza of McClave would push it back to three at 45 to 42 and that was the final score by McClave. Jenna Krise would again hit a contested 2-point shot and then Kayl Klem would hit the go ahead shot to put Briggsdale on top. Briggsdale would close it out with some clutch free throws and win 50 to 45.
Championship Saturday got off with a bang as the Consolation Championship was a good one seeing #6 Dove Creek defeat #5 Idalia 46 to 40. Dove Creek played excellent down the stretch to help them secure the win. Idalia made their run in the fourth quarter, but Dove Creek held on to secure the win. The third-place game featured #1 McClave vs #3 Flatirons Academy. Flatirons Academy set the ton early and never looked back. Flatirons Academy took a 17-6 lead to start the game and never trailed after that. McClave would make their run in the 3rd quarter but lost momentum in the fourth. Flatirons Academy won the third-place trophy 45 to 32. The State Championship featured #4 Briggsdale vs #2 Stratton. This was a close game from beginning to end and would finish on a clutch shot. Briggsdale would take the early lead 14 to 13 before each team defensively locked things would with just 9 points total scored in the third quarter and a tied ball game at 18. The second half would see Stratton take the lead at 22 to 21 with around 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Stratton would see their lead grow to 7 before Briggsdale went on a 7-0 to tie things up and Stratton hold a narrow 30 to 28 lead. The fourth quarter would continue to see great basketball. Stratton would hold the lead till late in the fourth when a Claire Brown FG would give Briggsdale the 1-point lead. Briggsdale would push the lead to 2 and then we would see each team trade buckets till we were tied at 39 a piece with around a minute left to play. Stratton would take the one-point lead on a free throw 40 to 39 before Jenna Krise would hit the go-ahead shot for Briggsdale and give them the 41 to 40 lead over Stratton. Briggsdale would win by that score and win back-to-back titles.
Once again congratulations to the Briggsdale Falcons on winning the Class 1A Girls State Championship.
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