While the end of the regular season didn’t go the way the Thompson Valley girls basketball team had wanted, the Eagles’ start to what they hope is a deep playoff run certainly did.
No. 11 seed Thompson Valley jumped out to a 26-12 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 71-38 victory over No. 22 Aurora Central in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs Saturday at TVHS.
The Eagles, who had a bye in the first round, will face No. 6 Air Academy in the Sweet 16 on Wednesday. The Kadets defeated No. 27 Canon City, 45-19, in their second-round game. The winner between the Eagles and the Kadets will advance to the Great 8 at the Denver Coliseum.
“Going to the Coliseum is a big deal,” Thompson Valley head coach Mike Artis said. “I don’t know if it’s happened in recent years at Thompson Valley and hopefully, we can rewrite history and get there. So, that’s the plan.”
The Eagles still have to win another game to get the Coliseum, and even before Saturday’s convincing win against the Trojans, they had to put the end of their regular season behind them. Thompson Valley needed to win its last two games to clinch the 5A/4A Longs Peak League championship but lost both, to Timnath and Roosevelt.
They ended up finishing second in the conference behind the champion Roughriders.
With a week between games, the Eagles regrouped. They got a full week of practice in courtesy of their first-round bye, and they took advantage of it.
“It really helped us see what we need to do to go far in the playoffs,” Thompson Valley sophomore guard Penny Gilbert said. “And it helped to kind of come back as a team and find a way to win.”
The Eagles came out hot against the Trojans, using a 15-2 run over the last half of the opening period to take a 25-10 lead. They led 26-15 at the end of the first quarter.
Senior Jesika Hopkins had 12 points and the Eagles made four 3-pointers — two by Hopkins and two by senior Mekayla Macias — in the first eight minutes.
“I think we knew that we had to set the tone, come out strong and push them to failure so we could succeed and keep succeeding,” Hopkins said. “I think a big part of this game was getting in our groove, showing everyone that we’re back in it, getting our speed back, getting our pace back and just playing our Thompson Valley basketball.”
Hopkins led all scorers and tied her season high with 29 points.
While the Eagles’ offense slowed a bit, their defense stiffened, holding Aurora Central to seven points in the second quarter to take a 41-19 lead into halftime. Thompson Valley went on a 13-4 run beginning early in the second quarter that pushed their lead to 39-17 near the end of the period.
“That’s what we’ve hung our hat on the entire season,” Artis said. “Even when we don’t score well, we’re still holding teams underneath their averages. These girls, they play such great defense. Man-to-man, zone, whatever I throw at them, they can adapt to it. And it’s just the energy playing team defense. They’re one cohesive unit.”
After Hopkins scored seven straight points early in the third quarter to give the Eagles a 30-point lead at 51-21, the Trojans showed some life and made a run, scoring 10 straight points to cut their deficit to 20 points.
Thompson Valley answered with the final four points of the third period and led 57-31 going into the final quarter.
“I think realizing that teams are going to score, teams are going to go on a run, but if we match their run and then eventually outdo their run, we’ll be just fine,” Hopkins said. “Allowing them to score is fine, but then taking that away from them the next play or not making that same mistake is what we try to capitalize on and what puts us ahead.”
The Eagles’ bench got a chance to play for most of the fourth quarter. The last Thompson Valley starter came out of the game with just under four minutes remaining.
Thompson Valley outscored Aurora Central 14-7 in the final period.
Now the Eagles are back in the round they saw last season end. To earn a trip to the Coliseum, Thompson Valley will again have to go on the road and win a game in a likely hostile environment.
They hope the momentum they gained Saturday will carry over to Wednesday’s contest.
“I’m very excited for the next round,” Gilbert said. “I think we’re going to have to work hard, though. It’s going to be a great team to play and I’m excited for next week.”
