4A girls basketball Great 8 roundup: No. 1 Mesa Ridge stunned at home

(2) Holy Family 66, (1) Mesa Ridge 52

One of the favorites to win the Class 4A girls basketball championship has been ousted.

Holy Family made its way down to Fountain where it upset No. 1 Mesa Ridge 66-52. Mesa Ridge was poised as a team looking to get McDonald’s All-American Kylee Shook her second state championship.

The Tigers are now on the receiving end of the result they faced last year. They came into the 4A girls basketball tournament as a No. 1 seed only to fall to Valor Christian in the Great 8. Valor went on to win the state championship.

This is the first Final 4 for Holy Family since the school joined the 4A class.

(1) Valor Christian 61, (3) Mullen 58

It was a see-saw fourth quarter, but the defending 4A champions came away with a 61-58 win over Mullen to advance to the Final 4 yet again.

This is the third-straight Final 4 appearance for the Eagles.

About halfway through the fourth quarter, Mullen held a 52-49 lead as they looked to complete the upset bid.

The two teams began to trade baskets and eventually, Valor was able to snag a 57-56 lead and add four more points to seal the win.

(2) Evergreen 49, (4) D’Evelyn 26

There was not a moment that the Cougars were not in control of the game as they cruised to a 49-26 win over D’Evelyn.

Evergreen held an 11-point lead at halftime and only increased it from that point out.

A trip to the Final 4 gives the Cougars some redemption from last season. A year ago, Evergreen was a No. 3 seed coming into the tournament and was upset by No. 6 Longmont in the first round.

(1) Sand Creek 74, (2) Pueblo East 56

The wire-to-wire No. 1-ranked team in the 4A CHSAANow.com poll came away with a 74-56 win over Pueblo East to advance to the Final 4 for the second-straight year.

Oliana Squires led the Scorpions with 17 points in the win.

Sand Creek is looking to get back to the 4A championship game where they fell to Valor Christian a year ago.