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Eagles are ready, wary
Broomfield is favored, but senior remembers tournament failures
Published March 7, 2007 at midnight
Katie Calderwood has witnessed too many bizarre occurrences to feel at ease.
Sure, the senior's Broomfield squad has been the wire-to-wire favorite this season and is the only No. 1 seed remaining in the Class 4A girls basketball tournament.
The Eagles (25-1) systematically have dismantled opponents all season, are owners of a 23-game winning streak and have received only one legitimate scare from a 4A team.
But Calderwood, whose team plays Berthoud today in the semifinals at the Coors Events Center, isn't resting easy, even though the Eagles walloped Berthoud 77-45 last month in the Northern League Tournament.
"It's kind of like last year with Greeley West," said Calderwood, who will play at Washington State next season. "We beat them by 40 during the regular season, then lost to them by one in the elite eight. We won't be looking past Berthoud."
Greeley West also did the honors of knocking the Eagles from the tournament when Calderwood was a sophomore. That was in the semifinals. When she was a freshman, Pueblo East eliminated Broomfield in the quarterfinals.
So while it might seem natural for Calderwood and her teammates to be relaxed entering the final four, coach Mike Croell is making sure they are sweating every detail. Calderwood even said it will take some time to get used to the court in Boulder.
"It's kind of nerve-wracking because all you see is yellow behind the backboard," she said.
Berthoud, meanwhile, is ecstatic to get another shot at the Eagles. While the season has gone well for the Spartans (23-3), they were forced to endure tragedy when two members of the wrestling team lost their legs in an auto accident.
Spartans coach Randy Earl said the accident "might have caught up to us a little bit," but insists his team is focused and ready to take a more legitimate shot at Broomfield.
"We don't feel we played very well the first time against Broomfield," Earl said. "We had some cancellations because of the weather and the accident, and that was our 11th game in (18) days. Our kids are looking forward to meeting Broomfield again."
The Spartans exhibit strong balance with multidimensional forward Brittany Fiske and sharpshooters Maggie Murtagh and Jasmine Cervantes.
"I think we're a tough team to know how to guard," Earl said. "You can't just key on our outside shooters."
Glenwood Springs and Harrison meet in the other semifinal. All signs pointed to a Glenwood Springs-Moffat County matchup in the quarterfinals, but Rifle upset top-seeded Moffat County.
Glenwood Springs then dispatched Rifle 65-58 to advance to the semifinals for the first time in school history under first- year coach Bryan Derby.
"The thing that really clicked was, when I came in this season, I told them this was about team basketball," said Derby, the Demons' freshman coach the past two seasons and a referee for 11 years before that. "I didn't really care much about individual stats. If we were going to win, it was with the team doing it."
And the Demons (20-4) have done it, becoming the only No. 3 seed to advance to the semifinals.
They will take on a second-seeded Harrison squad that narrowly escaped Silver Creek 53-51 in the Sweet 16, then outlasted Fossil Ridge 61-53 in the round of eight.
Paige Ricker is the catalyst in an otherwise well-balanced group that lost a tiebreaker to Sierra for the top spot in the Colorado Springs Metro League.
The teams are not familiar with one another as the CSML and Western Slope League rarely meet. Derby said he knows little about Harrison, other than "they are quick and very good rebounders."
Berthoud (23-3)
Season recap: First in the Northern League - East Division.
Top players: Maggie Murtagh (16.1 points, 67 three-pointers), Brittany Fiske (15.3 points, 5.9 rebounds) and Jasmine Cervantes (9.7 points).
Tip-ins: Berthoud has won 13 of 14, its lone blemish in that span a 77-45 loss to Broomfield in the Northern League tournament championship game despite 22 points from Fiske. The second-seeded Spartans have gotten past some stiff competition in the postseason, knocking off defending champion Mullen 74-64 in the Sweet 16 before thumping top-seeded Sierra 56-38 in the quarterfinals. Many Berthoud players also were members of the Spartans softball team, which finished as state runner-up in the fall.
Broomfield (25-1)
Season recap: First in the Northern League - West Division.
Top players: Katie Calderwood (11.4 points), Anna Prins (11.2 points) and Chaundra Sewell (10.2 points).
Tip-ins: The Eagles have reeled off 22 consecutive wins and swept through the Northern League with a 14-0 mark. Their lone loss was 51-48 to Horizon on Dec. 8. Horizon is a No. 1 seed still alive in the 5A tournament. Broomfield's lone close call in a 4A game was a 48-46 victory against Silver Creek in the semifinals of the Northern League tournament. The Eagles defeated Berthoud 77-45 in the league title game, the teams' lone meeting this season. The 6-foot-6 Prins scored 19 points in that one, while Sewell and Sophia Rhodes added 15 apiece.
Glenwood Springs (20-4)
Season recap: First trip to semifinals; second in the Western Slope League.
Top players: Sharaya Selsor (17.3 points, 4.1 assists); Sam Ciani (13.5 points, 9.1 rebounds) and Katrina Selsor (10.2 points, five assists).
Tip-ins: First-year coach Bryan Derby doesn't want the Demons to worry about individual statistics, but they have plenty of impressive stats. Perhaps most surprising is Ciani is the only key senior on the team, so this might not be a one-year experience for Glenwood Springs. The Demons have won 13 of 14, the lone slip-up a 57-53 loss to Palisade. The Demons have not faced any of the other semifinalists but split games with Moffat County, which was a No. 1 seed.
Harrison (23-3)
Season recap: Second in the Colorado Springs Metro League.
Top players: Paige Ricker (16.4 points, 55 three-pointers, 86 percent on free throws), Myecha Taylor (9.5 points, 2.3 steals) and Alystia Moore (nine points, 7.7 rebounds).
Tip-ins: The Panthers have won 10 of 11. Their only lopsided loss was a 52-29 decision to Sierra in the regular-season finale. Their other two losses were by a combined three points. Harrison has not faced any of the other semifinalists but has an impressive win against Golden on its résumé. The Panthers won 87-77 on Dec. 16 when Golden, which evolved into a No. 1 seed, was at full strength. Other than Ricker, the Panthers don't fire much from the perimeter. Ricker has accounted for all but 19 of Harrison's 74 three-pointers.
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