4A girls basketball: Holy Family back on top with 7th state title victory

DENVER — An 11-0 run in the third quarter was just the surge Holy Family needed to claim its seventh girls basketball state title in the program’s history.

Top-seeded Holy Family defeated No. 2 D’Evelyn 49-44 on Saturday morning at the Denver Coliseum to win the Tigers’ first girls hoops title since 2014.

“All of us kind of decided this is what we wanted,” Holy Family senior Fiona Snashall said after the Tigers won their first girls basketball state championship in the 4A classifcation. “We wanted to make our mark at Holy Family. That is what we came and did.”

Holy Family coach Ron Rossi had guided Holy Family girls basketball to six 3A state titles before adding his seventh Saturday. 

“It feels amazing, honestly,” Holy Family senior Essynce Contreraz said while cradling the 4A trophy with both arms on the court after the victory. “The coaching staff we have and the girls we have, you can’t find that anywhere. We have the best team out here in the 4A classification.”

The Tigers remarkable run of their first six state title came over a seven-year span from 2008 to 2014. Holy Family would have played in the 4A championship game in 2020 against Mullen, but the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly canceled all the championship games. 

Holy Family (25-3 record) faced adversity Saturday trailing 22-18 at halftime. D’Evelyn’s junior duo of Peyton Marvel and Macy Scheer combined for 16 points and 14 rebounds at halftime.

“We were all talking about how badly we wanted this,” Snahall said of the halftime talk with the Tigers trailing at the break. “Our motto this whole year was ‘one more’. We needed one final push in the third quarter to take over. We had the will to win a little more.”

The Tigers’ push came during a 90-second run in the third quarter. Holy Family went on a 11-0 run from 4:10 to 2:40 left in the third quarter. The Tigers went from down 26-22 to up 33-26.

Freshman Enyiah Contreraz — Essynce’s younger sister — bookended the run with 3-pointers. With under 9 minutes of playing time on the court, Enyiah finished with 9 points. 

“I believe in her (Enyiah Contreraz) 100 percent. I have so much faith in her,” Snahall said. “I didn’t even go in to get the rebound. I just had a feeling it would go in. She had a huge impact on the game.”

Junior Jennifer Altshuler had a 3-pointer during the run and Snahall had a bucket at the rim to allow the Tigers to take the lead for good.

“Whenever she (Enyiah) get the opportunity on the floor she goes out there and done her,” Essynce said of her younger sister. “She shoots and makes some buckets. That is what she did. She gave us some energy and boosted us up. She helped us win that game. I’m not surprised, that just who my sister is.”

Snahall finished with a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The Tigers made five free throws in the final minute to hold off a late rally by D’Evelyn (27-1).

“Playing Holy Family and Coach Rossi — he has been around awhile — when he gets a 5-point lead it feels like a 20-point lead because they play so methodically,” D’Evelyn coach Chris Olson said. “It just came down to them making a couple more shots and we missed a few shots.”

Scheer finished with a game-high 18 points. Marvel had 11 points and 16 rebounds for the 5A/4A Jeffco League champions.

Olson took D’Evelyn to back-to-back 4A state title games 2012 and 2013. Air Academy and Pueblo South got the better of the Jaguars in both those championship games with D’Evelyn taking home the runner-up trophy both years.

It’s the third 4A state runner-up in the Jaguars’ history.

“It means so much,” Scheer said of D’Evelyn making the title game. “We’ve had such a great season. We just wish we could have finished it out.”