The formula for Green Mountain dethroning Roosevelt was simple: Get up before dawn, and don’t let two Division I players beat them.
The Rams met at their school for a 6 a.m. shootaround ahead of their Great 8 morning game against the two-time defending Class 5A champion Roughriders. Green Mountain’s entire defensive focus revolved around limiting Roosevelt stars Kyla Hollier and Ryanne Bahnsen-Price, as the Rams double-teamed them all game.
That strategy, in addition to Hollier fouling out, enabled the fifth-seeded Rams to upset No. 4 Roosevelt with a wire-to-wire, 46-42 victory on Friday at Denver Coliseum.
“Kyla and Ryanne are two of the best in the state,” Green Mountain coach Matteo Busnardo said. “We knew we had the matchups elsewhere, so we knew we had to contain those two as best as we can and make it super hard on them. We doubled them every time, and we got lucky with Kyla fouling out.”
Division I recruit Hollier had a game-high 18 points, and San Diego commit Bahnsen-Price added nine points, but the Rough Riders couldn’t get enough out of their supporting cast. Addie Evans led Green Mountain with 11 points, Kantyn Pearson chipped in 10 and Ella Cockrum and Julia Schafer both had nine.
Green Mountain’s suffocating defense paved the way. The Rams jumped out to a 9-0 lead to open the game as the Riders came out cold and discombobulated.
“We knew we needed to hit them early, and we did,” Cockrum said.
But the Riders respond with a 7-2 run of their own, cutting Green Mountain’s lead to 11-7 after one quarter.
“After they went on their run, we just had to keep pushing,” Evans said. “We never lost confidence that we could play with them.”
The Rams took a four-point lead into halftime with Hollier at three fouls, one of them a technical for jawing with the ref. Hollier was a mismatch for Green Mountain in the post, consistently scoring with ease, but had to head to the bench midway through the third after picking up a fourth foul.
In the final quarter, the Rams’ offense went cold.
They didn’t have a field goal in the entire fourth, but their defense carried them. Meanwhile, Hollier fouled out midway through the frame after being whistled for a charge. Green Mountain hit four clutch free throws in the frame, too, which ended up being the difference.
The Rams, the Jeffco League champions, pushed their winning streak to 23 by knocking off the Riders. Green Mountain hasn’t lost since early December, when they started 1-2 in a tournament at ThunderRidge with losses to Cherokee Trail and Pueblo West.
“That was the lowest we’ve been this whole season,” Busnardo said. “We had a long talk after that Pueblo West game, where we did not play well, and we’ve been on the ascent ever since. But the job’s not finished. We’ve got two more games to win.”
Green Mountain, which lost in the Sweet 16 the last two seasons, is back in the Final Four after being there in 2022. The Rams lost to eventual champion Mullen in that game. A victory next week in the semifinals at the Coliseum would put Green Mountain into its first-ever title game.
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