Ranch girls’ season ends in Great 8

keep her out of the paint, box her out and limit her touches. She’s very good.”

BY ALEX K.W. SCHULTZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

When the Highlands Ranch and Grandview girls basketball teams got together for a nonleague game back in early January, Sienna Betts could only watch from the sideline in a walking boot as Ranch cruised to a 28-point victory.

When the two teams met again on March 4 in the Great 8 round of the Class 6A state playo s at the Denver Coliseum, Betts was back in the lineup for Grandview — all 6-foot-3 of her. And what a di erence-maker she was.

e sophomore was an absolute force for the Wolves. Betts scored a game-high 23 points as her teammates fed her inside early and often, powering 11th-seeded and defending 5A state champion Grandview to a 57-53 win over the No. 3 Falcons. Ranch, a seven-time state champion, will have to wait until next season to begin another quest for the program’s rst state crown since 2011.

“I’m proud of the kids. I feel like they overachieved all season long,” longtime coach Caryn Jarocki said of her Falcons, winners of this year’s 6A/5A Continental League title after going undefeated (10-0) in league play. “ ey played their hearts out and worked really hard, so you can’t fault them at all for [coming up short against Grandview].”

Indeed, the Falcons gave it everything they had, but there was only so much they could do against the long and strong Betts, who stood well above the three players charged with guarding her all afternoon: Maddie Groth (6 feet), Ezra Simonich (5-10) and Tori Baker (5-7).

Nearly all of Betts’ points came on catch-and-turn plays in the paint. She was a modest 5-for-12 from the eld in the rst two quarters but really found her stroke in the second half, connecting on ve of six shots.

Not only did Betts get the job done in the scoring column, but she also did a lot of damage on the glass, pulling down 15 rebounds (six o ensive, nine defensive) to give herself a doubledouble. As a team, Ranch had 23 rebounds.

“We didn’t execute our game plan very well on her,” Jarocki said of Betts. “We were trying to double-team her,

Said Baker of trying to guard Betts, who was hobbled with a right ankle injury when the two teams met in Ranch’s gym a couple months ago:

“She’s so good. She’s very versatile on both sides. My main goal was to try to annoy her and see if I could take her o her game. She’s just a great player overall. She did really well.”

Despite Betts’ big day, Ranch was very much in the game late.

After a Grandview turnover, the Falcons raced down the court and found Baker, who pulled up at the left wing, took aim, red and swished a 3-pointer to cut the Wolves’ lead to 50-49 with less than 4 minutes to go.

Grandview coach Josh Ulitzky quickly called a timeout, sensing a momentum swing.

After breaking the huddle, the Wolves had trouble advancing the ball much past the halfcourt line because of the pressure the Falcons were applying, forcing Ulitzky to burn yet another timeout. at prompted the Ranch bench and fans to get even louder.

Out of the timeout, Betts — who else — scored inside to quiet the Falcons. e two teams went back and forth at the free-throw line the rest of the way, but Ranch was never able to catch the Wolves.

“Unfortunately, we just couldn’t