DENVER — The only thing that prevented Resurrection Christian girls basketball head coach Jason Conrad from making sure his five seniors were on the court to celebrate an historic victory was if one of them fouled out.
So, when Caz McGraw did just that, in a way, it was appropriate, according to the Cougars’ coach of his gritty, hard-working guard. Shortly after, the buzzer sounded and McGraw, along with the rest of her teammates, the other four seniors included, celebrated the program’s first state championship.
The top-seeded Cougars led wire-to-wire to defeat No. 3 Denver Christian, 55-32, at the University of Denver’s Hamilton Gym in the Class 3A championship game. The title comes a year after the Cougars lost in the 4A semifinals.
“Oh my gosh,” RCS senior Olivia Klein said as she held the state championship trophy tight. “It’s unbelievable. We put this goal out there at the beginning of the year and we wanted it so bad. It’s just the most unbelievable feeling ever. It’s awesome. Honestly, it’s just awesome. This girls basketball program has grown so much since I’ve been there, so to finally take it home, it just means so much.”
The win and the championship solidified the most successful season in the program’s history. The Cougars finished with a single season-record 26 wins with only two losses, one of which came against Class 4A state champion University.
The five seniors — McGraw, Klein, Callie Gillespie, Lysette Batz and Milana Rowe — have been teammates all throughout high school. They started all season long and battled to end their year by accomplishing the goal they set at the beginning of the season.
“Words don’t even define or come even close to summing up the feeling and the emotions right now,” Conrad said. “These five seniors have been through the fire and been through things people won’t even know, and for them to be able to capture our first state title as a women’s basketball program. There is not a more deserving group of five seniors ever.
“They had a goal, and they accomplished it to go with them for the rest of their lives.”
Against Denver Christian, the Cougars used their signature defense and some early 3-pointers from Klein to jump out to a 19-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Thunder was able to cut into the RCS lead a little in the second quarter, but the Cougars still led 25-15 at halftime.
After the break, the Cougars went back to their defense, holding the Thunder to only six points in the period while scoring 16 of their own and taking a 41-21 lead into the final period.
“Especially these last three games in playoffs, we’ve said that it’s all about defense,” Gillespie said. “If we can just play defense, offense will take care of itself. And so, we just came out and every single play we said, ‘Let’s get a stop. Let’s get a stop.’ And then we take it back down on offense and figure it out.”
With a minute left in the game and the Cougars still holding a 20-point lead, Klein was called for a double dribble and reacted with a smile. All that was left was for the remaining time to tick off the clock.
The Cougars outscored the Thunder 13-11 in the final period, and when the buzzer finally sounded, the celebration began.
“When you look at the scoreboard and you’ve got a 20-point lead with about four minutes left in the fourth quarter; it starts to sink in a little bit that we’re going to do this. We’re going to get this done, and you just want to see that clock go fast,” Conrad said. “Then you sit back and try to enjoy it at the same time because you don’t get too many moments like this.”
Klein led the Cougars with 19 points, including a 9-of-10 shooting display from the free-throw line. Batz scored 13 points to go along with 12 rebounds, while Gillespie added 12 points.
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