Remarkable run lifts Blue squad to win in girls’ 2022 Jeffco Senior Basketball Game

LAKEWOOD — There was history made Thursday night at the Gold Crown Field House.

In the 4th annual girls and boys Jeffco High School Senior Basketball Games — features some of the top senior basketball players in Jeffco — had its first overtime game. The girls’ game went overtime with the Blue team finishing off an amazing come-from-behind 60-56 victory.

“At halftime we were like, we are not losing. It’s a fun game, but we are here to win,” said Columbine senior Jessica Bollwahn, who was named the Blue team MVP finishing with 15 points and a strong effort on both ends of the court. “Luckily we pulled it out.”

The White squad coached by D’Evelyn’s girls coach Chris Olson — Class 4A Jeffco League Coach of the Year — led 56-38 with 6 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. However, the Blue team finished the game on a 22-0 run to grab the victory.

Bollwahn, Avery Oaster (Green Mountain), Anna Salmore (Lakewood) and Mia Lobato (Pomona) combined to score all the Blue squad’s 41 points after halftime. The White team led 31-19 at the break.

“We had some urgency and knew we had to play as a team,” Bollwahn said of the nearly 20-point deficit almost midway through the final quarter (10-minute quarters were played instead of the normal 8-minute quarters during the high school season).

Oaster, who helped lead Green Mountain to a third straight Final Four appearance in the 4A state tournament this season, was unstoppable in the second half.

“Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention to the score very much,” said Oaster, who scored 18 of her 19 points after halftime. “I just felt a rhythm with me and Jessica (Bollwahn). I thought we really bonded in that moment even thou we’ve never played against or with each other.”

Lobato was key hitting three 3-pointers in the second half. Salmore finished with a dozen points, including the first basket in the overtime period that gave the Blue squad its first lead since the first quarter.

Talea Kuennen (Chatfield) was named the White MVP. Kuennen played with a strong intensity the entire game, leading her team with 15 points. Saya Sabus (Ralston Valley) drained four 3-pointer before she heads off to play at the Colorado School of Mines next school year.

Marlee Hernadez-Priest (Littleton) drained a 3-pointer for the White team with 6:20 left in the fourth quarter, but then the Blue team coached by Valor Christian assistant coach Brooke Jelniker went to a zone defense that Olson’s team struggled with the remainder of the game.

“Columbine worked so hard this season, unfortunately the season didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” Bollwahn said of the Rebels’ Sweet 16 state playoff loss to Arapahoe back on March 1. “To end my high school career on a win was pretty special.”