Riverdale Ridge cruises to elite 8 of state 4A tourney

BY JONATHAN MANESS SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

THORNTON – No.7-seeded Riverdale Ridge made quick work of No. 10 Lamar in the second-round of the Class 4A girls state basketball tournament.

e Ravens locked up the under from the opening whistle as they cruised to a 58-22 victory.

Lamar came into the game averaging 46.6 points a contest and was on a 10-game winning streak, but that didn’t matter when it got to Riverdale.

e under was held to only eight points in the rst half and struggled to get an open shot against Riverdale’s aggressive defense.

“ e girls have really been locked in on defense all year,” Riverdale coach Tim Jones said. “We have held multiple opponents below their averages. Our girls know it’s hard to scout e ort on the defensive side of the ball.” at e ort was also key on the boards, as the Ravens dominated the glass on both sides of the ball. Riverdale consistently came up with o ensive rebounds to get an extra possession.

“Dominating the glass helped us tremendously,” Jones said. “You can a ord to have bad shooting nights if you rebound the ball well.” e Ravens didn’t shoot the ball great. Brihanna Crittendon and Gabby Herr more production in the second half. Macayla Stark, Danicka Rojas and Payton Meineke each added baskets. Lamar did its best to shut down Crittendon –many times throwing two to three defenders at her. However, there is a reason why the 6-foot-2 freshman leads the state in scoring. She continued to do damage from the charity stripe and scored on putbacks to nish the contest with 23 points. e big challenge for Riverdale will be Friday when the Ravens face No. 2 D’Evelyn in the Great Eight matchup at the Denver Coliseum. e Jaguars are going into the matchup undefeated and are coming o of a commanding 73-42 victory over No. 15 Kent Denver.

“Next week is a great opportunity for our young team,” Jones said. “D’Evelyn, arguably to me, is the No. 1 team in 4A basketball.”

On paper the two teams are pretty identical. Riverdale averages 66.6 points and D’Evelyn scores at 61.6 a game. Defensively, D’Evelyn is only giving up 31 a game and Riverdale 34.3.

Both teams also feature two of the best players in the state. Crittendon averages 31 ½ points and 9 ½ rebounds per game. D’Evelyn features star junior Peyton Marvel. Marvel has averaged a double-double every year and is currently leading the Jaguars at 19.2 points and 12.8 rebounds a game.

“Our girls are pumped,” the coach said. “We matched up pretty well this summer, so next week should be some really good basketball.” e game tips o at 8.45 a.m. on Friday.