COLORADO SPRINGS - Compared with most people traveling south on snowy Interstate 25 from Denver to Colorado Springs on Wednesday, the ThunderRidge girls basketball team had smooth sailing.

They left school at 9:45 a.m., had breakfast together and experienced limited delays traveling to the World Arena.

It was even smoother when the Grizzlies started playing basketball. ThunderRidge smothered Lakewood's transition game, and the Grizzlies cruised into the Class 5A quarterfinals with a 57-35 victory.

ThunderRidge (18-7) forced nine first-quarter turnovers, and before the late-arriving crowd had been seated, the Grizzlies were in control.

Early in the second quarter, Grizzlies guard Rachel Messer hit a three-pointer to give ThunderRidge a 27-12 lead. Two minutes later, Meagan Malcolm- Peck grabbed a rebound and dribbled the length of the court for a layup to put ThunderRidge ahead by 21 points.

"We watched film on them and we saw that they liked to transition," said ThunderRidge forward Jessica Luedtke, who led the Grizzlies with 14 points. "Stopping their strength helped us use our strength. We like to push it up the floor."

The Grizzlies, the No. 2 seed in the Carol Callan Region, pushed No. 3 Lakewood (18-5) out of the tournament, with Messer (11 points), Savannah Dederick (11) and D'Ambra Evans (10) joining Luedtke in double figures.

Lakewood, which committed 15 turnovers, was led by Kait Goodall with 14 points.

The Tigers (19-5) seemed to find their rhythm in the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run. But Messer hit another three-pointer to stop the run, and ThunderRidge closed out the game by outscoring Lakewood 7-1.

"We shot it well in the first half, and that made all the difference," ThunderRidge coach Bill Bradley said.

The Grizzlies also made five three-pointers, while Lakewood didn't hit any.

Lakewood......8	8	8	11	-	35
ThunderRidge......17	20	8	12	-	57

L - Sammy Amidei 0 0-0 0, Carly Cator 4 2-2 10, Taylor Johnson 4 2-2 10, Kait Goodall 5 4-4 14, Ericka Hicks 0 0-1 0, Katie Rose 0 1-2 1. Totals 13 9-11 35.

TR - Meagan Malcolm-Peck 2 3-4 7, D'Ambra Evans 4 1-2 10, Rachel Messer 4 0-0 11, Jessica Luedtke 5 3-4 14, Savannah Dederick 4 3-3 11, Brenna Malcolm-Peck 2 0-0 4, Mary Ludwig 0 0-2 0. Totals 21 10-15 57.

Three-point goals - TR, Messer 3, Evans, Luedtke.

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