With Hannah Tuomi doubled- teamed every trip down the court, the Horizon girls basketball team needed an alternative in overtime.

Enter Nikki Trujillo.

The junior guard scored 21 points and came up with the signature sequence in overtime as the top-seeded Hawks outlasted determined and feisty ThunderRidge 57-52 in the Class 5A state quarterfinals at the Denver Coliseum.

"I knew that they were double on her, triple on her, doing everything they can to stop Hannah because she's an amazing player," said Trujillo, who sank five of her 10 three-point attempts. "I just told myself I need to become a leader right now."

Tuomi, who will play at Vanderbilt, was limited to 14 points and 12 rebounds and did not score in overtime. But with ThunderRidge leading 50-49 in the extra session, Trujillo rebounded her own missed shot from the right wing, and her momentum took her to the left baseline.

She then nailed a long trey while falling out of bounds to put Horizon up 52-50. The Hawks never again trailed as Cherae Medina salted away the game with free throws.

"I had to hit that," Trujillo said. "It got us a lot of momentum and it got us hyped too."

Thunder Ridge (18-8), which fell short in its quest to reach the semifinals for the sixth consecutive season, forced overtime when Rachel Messer hit a long three-pointer with two seconds remaining to tie it 47-47.

The second-seeded Grizzlies then were successful in keeping the ball away from Tuomi, but couldn't overthrow the Hawks (21-4).

"Hannah is so powerful," ThunderRidge coach Bill Bradley said. "She has so many strengths, but she also had some weaknesses. We tried to play to our strengths and not to her strengths."

The teams are very familiar with one another because of repeated meetings in the state tournament, including ThunderRidge's win in the championship game two seasons ago and Horizon's victory in the semifinals last season.

It showed in crunch time as teams traded off crucial plays after a first half that featured 29 three-point attempts (nine makes) and zero free-throw attempts. ThunderRidge received 21 points from Meagan Malcolm-Peck.

"I think that's the hardest I've seen a team fight in the state tournament," Bradley said of his Grizzlies. "I wouldn't say we were the most gifted, but we fought hard enough to win the basketball game."

ThunderRidge......11	20	9	7	5	-	52
Horizon......13	12	11	11	10	-	57

TR - Rachel Messer 1 0-0 3, Meagan Malcolm-Peck 9 0-0 21, D'Ambra Evans 4 0-0 8, Jessica Luedtke 2 1-2 6, Savannah Dederick 3 2-5 8, Brenna Malcolm-Peck 2 1-2 6, Jessica Potthoff 0 0-0 0, Brooke Jelniker 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 4-9 52.

H - Cherae Medina 1 7-10 10, Nikki Trujillo 7 2-2 21, Hannah Tuomi 6 2-4 14, Cara Lambert 2 0-0 5, Lacey Herz 1 3-6 5, Katie Clements 1 0-0 2, Hannah Dillon 0 0-0 0, Briana Barringer 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 14-22 57.

Three-point goals - TR, M.Malcolm-Peck 3, Luedtke, Messer, B. Malcolm-Peck; H, Trujillo 5, Medina, Lambert. Fouled out - Evans.

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