Vigil, Sturms lead Lutheran to 2A girls hoops title
PUEBLO — For one day — March 15 — the Lutheran girls basketball team was the queen of 2A.
Kristen Vigil and Chandler Sturms scored 10 points each, propelling the Lions to a 47-35 victory over Yuma Saturday in the Class 2A state championship game at Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Massari Arena.
“It’s not real yet,” Lutheran coach Mark Duitsman said moments after his team won state. “It belongs to the girls. It belong to all the coaches. I couldn’t be happier for my team.”
Lutheran finished its magical season at 24-1, and won its first girls basketball state championship since Denver Lutheran and Lutheran-Parker consolidated, beginning in the 2011-2012 school year.
“This definitely feels really good to be state champions,” said Vigil, who had a team-high two 3-pointers. “We’ve been working hard for this all season to reach this goal.”
The loss was especially difficult for Yuma since it also lost in the finals a year ago to Akron (57-49). The Indians were trying to win their first girls state basketball championship since 1997.
“I think the girls just wanted it too bad and they were trying to do too much,” Yuma coach Mike Neill said. “We weren’t playing within ourselves. The girls tried hard and did their very best and it just wasn’t our night. Both losses (in the state championship) are equally hard to take, especially for the girls because they just wanted it so bad. You want to be the one at the end of the year who raises that gold ball, but I couldn’t be more proud of my girls.”
Lutheran set the pace early, taking a 10-3 lead following Sturms’ layup with 4:38 remaining in the first quarter.
The Lions kept roaring and when Vigil converted an old-fashion 3-point play Lutheran was up 20-10 with 3:26 left in the second quarter.
Yuma’s Logan Hixon countered with a trey at 2:12 to get the Indians within 20-13, but Yuma trailed 22-13 at halftime.
“We wanted to set the tone in the state championship game,” Vigil said.
On Friday night, Lutheran saw its state championship dreams slipping away before Vigil sank a clutch 3-pointer and Sturms made two free throws in the final 38 seconds in a dramatic 39-38 win over Meeker.
“I think that semifinal game was a real tough one,” Vigil said. “There was a lot of pressure coming in as the No. 1 seed. Once we got to the championship game we let loose and played like we had nothing to lose.”
In the final 16 minutes, Lutheran kept pushing the tempo.
Kaleigh Paplow’s 3-pointer in left corner gave the Lions a 27-15 edge and Cara Thomas’ inside bucket put Lutheran up 29-15 at 5:40 of third.
The sharp-shooting Vigil then nailed a trey, putting the Lions ahead 32-17 with 3:50 left in the third.
“I knew our defense would show up because our defense always shows up,” Duitsman said. “So far in the tournament, the lid was on the hoop and we had not been scoring and we were due for a good shooting night. We got off to that good start and that kept our confidence going. The girls played confident and we are at our best when we play with confidence.”
Yuma could get no closer than 46-35 before the game ended.
“I give Lutheran credit,” Neill said. “They played hard and they played good.”
