DENVER — No one can accuse Addison Harding, Janay Kravig and the rest of the University girls basketball team of being impatient.
They are as patient as can be with the way they execute their balanced halfcourt offense.
They have expressed the ultimate patience while consistently building up their program in recent years, even enduring mettle-testing heartbreak late in state tournaments the past few seasons.
Saturday morning in Denver Coliseum, the Bulldogs’ patience never wore thin, even under circumstances in which perhaps any other team would have let its anxiety take over.
Trailing by razor-thin margins most of the game, top-seeded University finally found the slightest opening and took full advantage in the second half of a dramatic, defensive-minded 42-35 victory over No. 6 Delta in the Class 4A state title game.
“This was our goal from Day 1,” said Kravig, the Bulldogs’ versatile senior guard/forward, who had 11 points and four steals. “We sat down as seniors seventh months ago and said this is our end-game goal. I’ve never seen a team that is this close. We love each other, and we play for each other.”
With this victory, years in the making, University capped a perfect 28-0 season with its first girls basketball state title in school history. Delta, making its first title-game appearance, ended its season 21-7.
Despite being the consensus underdog, the Panthers led by slight margins for much of the game.
Delta led from the 5:34 mark in the second quarter until the 1:37 mark of the third quarter.
Kravig sliced through the lane and converted a layup off a Harding assist to give the Bulldogs a slight 32-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
As precarious as that lead was — and despite all the work that remained if University was going to secure the victory — Harding and her Bulldogs teammates felt a bit of a boost looking up and seeing they had an advantage heading into the pivotal fourth quarter.
“That (slight lead) just made the little things even more exciting,” said Harding, University’s bruising senior center, who led the Bulldogs with 16 points, 12 rebound and two blocks. “We talked at halftime about being able to get a stop on defense but then taking advantage on offense with a bucket. We did a really good job of coming together, staying together, even when we were down.”
The game was the ultimate grind.
University shot 35.7% and had 18 turnovers, while Delta shot 28.3% with 18 turnovers, as well.
“We played like champions; we just came up a little short,” Panthers coach Kyle Crowder said. “(The Bulldogs) are physical, and it just gives us a little bit of a challenge trying to get the ball where we want to get it. And they’re big. So when we did get open looks, shots that we wanted, if it didn’t go in, we got outrebounded, for sure.”
Rebounding may have been the statistical category that favored University the most in this gritty title game.
The Bulldogs outrebounded the Panthers 31-26, including a 13-9 advantage on the offensive glass.
University scored 15 second-chance points, compared to nine for smaller but feisty Delta.
“Good big teams usually beat good small teams, and that’s kind of what the situation looked like today,” Crowder said.
With the game firmly up for grabs, the Bulldogs outscored the Panthers 10-4 in the fourth quarter to assure their third trip to a title game was a successful one.
Leading just 35-33 after a Harding free-throw make, University junior Maddie McNair came up with the most pivotal basket of the game. McNair tenaciously collected a Harding free-throw miss and sank a put-back basket while being fouled by Delta senior Taylor Somers.
McNair calmly sank the and-1 free throw to give her team a 38-33 lead with 1:58 left — a virtual insurmountable deficit for the Panthers, considering how scarce quality scoring opportunities were against the Bulldogs’ full-court press and active half-court 2-3 zone defense.
“I was just happy to get that basket in,” said McNair, who had eight points and seven rebounds. “Then, turning around and my teammates being there for me — it just meant the whole world to me. Their support is what made me get that free throw in. Knowing that they have confidence in me, I could have confidence in myself.”
Though this was University’s first girls basketball title, it certainly wasn’t the first time the Bulldogs have found themselves in prime position to make school history.
A year ago, they were the postseason’s seventh seed and lost in the state tournament’s quarterfinals to No. 2 D’Evelyn, 55-39.
Two years ago, as the third seed, they fell in the state semifinals, again to second-seeded D’Evelyn, 49-44.
And three years ago — when this year’s seniors were freshmen — second-seeded University lost in the 3A state title game to top-seeded Platte Valley, 70-50.
The wait was no doubt a trying one.
But, all said and done, the Bulldogs’ patience never wavered; nor did their unrelenting focus, drive and determination, as they didn’t slip up once during a 28-game campaign that spanned more than three months.
“There’s nothing better — that’s literally all I can say,” University coach Matt Baumgartner said. “Undefeated was not the goal. But, sometimes, the by-product of what you’re trying to do results in that. This was a good example of it. We never meant to go undefeated. These girls just showed up every day, ready to work. … I’m just speechless.”
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