One moment illustrated the Grandview Wolves’ brilliant championship season.
With 3 minutes and 5 seconds left in the first half, star center Sienna Betts, one of the best high school girls basketball players in Colorado history, was fed the ball in the low post. It barely touched Betts’ fingers before she flicked a pass — à la Nikola Jokic — to senior guard Maya Smith on the baseline. Smith calmly swished the 3-pointer, and the No. 1 Wolves led No. 7 Legend 29-14.
It was one wow moment among many in Grandview’s 61-39 win in the Class 6A girls state championship on Saturday afternoon at Denver Coliseum. The runaway victory gave Grandview its third state title in four years.
“Everything was in sync today,” Smith said after Grandview shot a remarkable 22 of 36 (61.1%) from the floor and made 13 of 17 free throws (76.5%).
The Wolves (25-3) saved their best performance for last. They took a 9-0 lead to open the game, were shooting 64% near the end of the first half and were never threatened by the Titans.
The UCLA-bound Betts did what she does in big games, scoring 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting with 16 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. She played with an enforcer’s presence in the paint.
But make no mistake, title No. 3 was a total team victory.
“This is so sweet,” said senior forward Deija Roberson, who scored 15 points, making six of her seven shots. Roberson is still debating which Division II college to attend.
“One-hundred percent this was about the team today,” Roberson continued. “Everybody had their moments today. I mean everybody. It took a while for us to get here, but I’m so happy we finished like this.”
Grandview lost a chance to four-peat when it fell to Mullen in last year’s Sweet 16. That loss fueled them for a solid 12 months.
“We didn’t ever forget,” Betts said.
Sophomore Ava Chang, driving Grandview’s offense up the court, added 10 points and six rebounds. Smith scored nine points.
“Credit to Maya Smith because she doesn’t get a ton of credit,” Grandview coach Josh Ulitzky said. “She always has to guard everybody’s best kid, but she knocked down two big (3-pointers). We talked about it at shootaround this morning. I told her I wanted her to be aggressive and I needed her to take those shots. I’m so proud of her.”
Ulitzky said the Wolves played their best game of the season.
“The kids were excellent and they executed the way we asked them to,” he said. “Our defense was phenomenal, and we took away the 3-point line and we rebounded.
“(Legend) is a very deep, talented team. But I thought our girls handled everything so well today.”
Betts, one of three finalists for Gatorade National Player of the Year, concurred.
“Our style fits together so perfectly this year, and it really showed today,” said Betts, who scored more than 2,000 points and grabbed almost 1,500 rebounds in a brilliant career that included her three state titles.
Grandview won its fifth state title. It won back-to-back championships in 2017-18 and again in 2022-23.
Grace Stanley led Legend (22-6) with 11 points. The Titans made a couple of mini-runs late. Ava Gavi and Stanley hit back-to-back, wide-open 3s to slice Grandview’s lead to 50-37 with 4:07 remaining in the game. But the Wolves shut down Legend the rest of the way, and the final victory margin matched their biggest lead of the game.
“Defense wins championships — I really believe that — and it showed today,” Betts said. “I’m so happy for all of our seniors and what we have done. Not everybody is going on to play in college, so this was so special. We played so well together today and everyone trusts everyone. That showed up today.”
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.