2A girls basketball Great 8 roundup: Wray reaches the Final 4

(3) Wray 62, (6) Swink 40

PUEBLO — Thanks to a strong second-half performance, Wray High School’s girls basketball team is moving on in the Class 2A state tournament.

Holding a two-point lead at half, the Eagles found another gear soaring to a 62-40 victory over Swink in a quarterfinal game at Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Massari Arena.

“I think depth was the difference,” Wray coach David Reed said. “We were playing 10 kids and they were playing six kids and that makes a huge difference. We were able to run a little more and control the rebounds with our big girls, and we were able to get some easy lay-ups.”

The Eagles (19-5 overall) advance to play Paonia (24-1) at 4 p.m. Friday in a semifinal game.

Wray won girls state basketball titles in 2008 and 2009, defeating Paonia in 2009 in the championship game.

“Coach (Scott) Rienks (of Paonia) does a great job with his team,” Reed said. “We’re going to have to use our depth, 10 players, and take care of the ball a little bit better and control the tempo and give ourselves a shot to win.”

Wray held a slim 30-28 lead at intermission, but then took control in the third outscoring the Lions 16-6.

“I told the girls at half that we needed to control our emotions a little better, and make better decisions,” Reed said.

When Bailey Reed, the coach’s daughter, hit a 3-pointer in the right corner with 26 seconds left in third she gave the Eagles a 46-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Eagles kept pushing the pace in the final quarter and were up 52-34 after Maddie Soehner’s transition lay-up with 5:47 remaining.

Hannah Lenz and Soehner had 15 and 12 points, respectively for the Eagles. Kyla O’Neal was Swink’s lone player in double-figures with 11.

(1) Yuma 86, (8) Custer County 25

Logan Hixon had 32 points and Peighton Roth added 18 points, powering top-seeded Yuma to a victory over the Bobcats.

Yuma jumped out to a 23-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and were never threatened.

Yuma (24-1) has been in the state championship game three years in a row, losing to Akron (2013), Lutheran (2014) and Akron again last year.

The Indians were trying to win their first girls state basketball championship since 1997.

Elizabeth Mullett paced Custer County (10-13) with nine points.

(2)Paonia 52, (7)Sanford 25

Taylor Carsten and Ashley Van Vleet had 10 points each as the Eagles muscled past the Indians.

The Eagles raced out to a 21-8 first-quarter lead on the strength of Carstens seven points – six of them coming via two 3-pointers.

Any chance Sanford had of getting back in the game in the second half was snuffed out as the Eagles only allowed the Indians 10 points total in the third and fourth quarter.

Cedaredge 53, Kiowa 41

With a chance for victory slipping away, Cedaredge came alive.

The Bruins finished the game on an 18-0 run in the last six and a half minutes of the game to claim the victory.

“It got a little out of control,” Cedaredge coach Ryan Hilbig said. “I was about to call a timeout and then we hit one three, and then we hit another three and we woke up. It was a big win for us.”

Cedaredge ran its record to 22-2 and will meet top-seeded Yuma at 7 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. Kiowa dropped to 19-5.

This is the Bruins first appearance in the semifinals since 2007 and that bid didn’t seem like it was going happen early in the fourth quarter.

Courtney Freeman hit drained a 3-pointer from the left of the top of the key with 5:08 left to give the Bruins a 44-41 lead they would never surrender.

Nellie Freeman, a senior and Courtney’s older sister, led the team with 15 points and Kendall McHugh added 12.

Kiowa’s Helen Janes and Melanie Deering had 12 points each on the loss.