Girls basketball: Broomfield pulls out gritty win over Rangeview
Dec. 13—BROOMFIELD — Wins don't always have to be pretty, but they sure look good on an unblemished resume two weeks into the season.
On Wednesday in its own home gym, Broomfield girls basketball relied on its defense until it found its shots to cruise to a 48-36 victory over visiting Rangeview, in a tale of two quarters.
What began with ice ended with an offensive inferno. The Eagles netted just nine points in the first quarter to sharply contrast the 19 they put up in the last one. Junior guard Olivia Kim led the Eagles with 13 points, followed closely by junior forward Sydney Deem (12 points) and sophomore guard Paige Gilpatrick (10 points).
"I think, at least for us, our defense is our calling card," Kim said. "Even when shots aren't falling, defense really helps us to stick together as a team and it provides a good transition for us into our offense."
Just like the frozen flakes that fell outside of the gym, it seemed every shot that the Eagles put up through the first half was bitten by frost. Despite a number of good looks, they couldn't get anything to fall.
That is, except for Gilpatrick.
She managed to break through the ice with a 3-pointer and a couple of layups, but the Eagles attributed most of the rest of their points to the new free throw rule that CHSAA implemented just this year.
Starting this season, team fouls will reset after each quarter, and squads will hit the bonus after five. Broomfield capitalized on free throw chances, but so too did Rangeview, as the Eagles' taut defense often got too handsy.
"We do foul a lot, and it's something we're definitely working on," Kim said. "Having the fouls reset every quarter definitely is helpful for us because I'd say it gives us a good reminder to stop fouling and not let them get in the bonus."
The Eagles led 17-9 at the half, but quickly rediscovered their offense when they hit the hardwood coming out of the break. Kim's first shot of the half, from downtown, seemed to hang in the air for minutes, the ball clanking along every edge of the rim before deciding it would fall through the nylon.
That lone 3 re-lit the pilot light and helped ignite a 10-0 scoring run out of the gate. Once Broomfield led 27-11, the Raiders went on a little run of their own to turn it into a 29-20 game by the end of the third quarter.
That's as close as they would get.
The snowstorm outside transformed into a thunderstorm indoors, as the Eagles rained down 3s on the Raiders, with sophomore guards Abby Turk and Kaitlyn Cole getting hot from deep. The Raiders couldn't recover.
The Eagles improved to 5-0 with the win, and will look to put together a cleaner performance when they return home on Friday to face off with Dakota Ridge at 7 p.m.
"Luckily, we're deep enough that if we got girls who can't perform on a given night, we've got girls behind them who can come off the bench and will perform," head coach Mike Croell said. "Every night, it seems like with this crew, it's an adventure. Somebody has to step up. It's frustrating sometimes, but at least we know that on any given night, somebody's going to step up."
