ALAMOSA – For the second year in a row, the Alamosa High School girls basketball team opened the Class 4A State Tournament by hosting Severance. And for the second consecutive year, the Lady Silver Knights gave the Lady Mean Moose an early exit as Severance scored a 40-29 win Tuesday at the AHS gym.
“We had couple of our main starters go down late in the season, but the future’s bright,” said AHS coach Ty Crowther. “We have some young individuals and having no seniors on the team, the future is very bright for us. I know they’re going to put in some work in the off-season and the off-season starts tomorrow. With these girls’ hearts that they have, they’ll continue to grow and better look out for the Mean Moose next year.”
Addison Rice gave Alamosa the early lead, but Attley Helzer hit a 3-point basket to put Severance on top. Helzer increased the lead to 5-2, but Morgan Ortega drained a three to tie the score at 5-5.
Maisy Dennis put the Lady Silver Knights back into the lead, but Arreli Felix drove for a layup to again deadlock the score at 7-7.
Helzer scored again and Severance had a 9-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Molly Sporleder buried a trey to open the second-quarter scoring, and Hannah Overton scored five straight points to extend the lead to 17-9.
Jaelin Garcia scored two baskets and Ortega scored in the pint to bring the Lady Mean Moose within a 17-15 deficit. But Reece Yahn, Helzer and Sporleder all scored in the final 1:31 of the second quarter to give the Lady Silver Knights a 23-15 advantage at halftime.
Ava Zink knocked down a jumper to begin the second half to give Severance a double-digit lead at 25-15. But Ortega and Taybor Wiedeman both scored, and Emmalie Quintana hit a 3-pointer to close the gap to 25-22
Ortega scored again to bring Alamosa to within 25-24, but Yahn hit a jumper with 16 seconds left in the third quarter and Severance had a 27-24 lead at the end of the period.
Overton made two free throws to begin the fourth quarter and Yahn scored again for a 31-24 lead. Felix made one of two from the free throw line, but Yahn and Sporleder both scored. Helzer also scored and added a free throw to give Severance its largest lead at 38-25.
Quintana made her second three of the game, but Yahn made two free throws to wrap up the scoring.
Ortega led the Lady Mean Moose in scoring with nine points, followed by Quintana with six.
Leading the Lady Silver Knights were Helzer with 12 points and Yahn with 10.
Alamosa finished the season with a record of 12 wins and 11 losses.
Alamosa boys play at Severance today
The Alamosa High School boys basketball team will open the Class 4A State Tournament today also against Severance. But in the Mean Moose’s case, they will have to travel to Weld County to face the Silver Knights.
Alamosa has a record of 13 wins and nine losses entering the game.
Severance 40, Alamosa 29
Severance – Helzer 5 1-1 12, Yahn 4 2-4 10, Overton 2 2-2 7, Hayes 0 0-0 0, Zink 1 0-0 2, Sporleder 3 0-1 7, Crownhart 0 0-0 0, Sullivan 0 0-0 0, Dennis 1 0-0 2. Total 16 5-8 40.
3-point goals – Helzer 1, Overton 1, Sporleder 1. Total 3.
Alamosa – Ortega 4 0-0 9, Montoya 0 0-0 0, Felix 1 1-4 3, Garcia 2 0-0 4, Wiedeman 1 1-4 3, Quintana 2 0-0 6, Villalva 0 0-0 0, Rice 1 0-0 2, Hawkins 0 0-0 0. Total 11 2-8 29.
3-point goals – Quintana 2, Ortega 1. Total 3.
Severance 9 14 4 13 – 40
Alamosa 7 8 9 3 – 29
Fouls – Severance 7, Alamosa 9.
