Dakota Ridge girls basketball soars past Lakewood

LITTLETON — Dakota Ridge senior Hannah Galbreath had arguably the best game of her prep basketball career Tuesday night.

Galbreath poured in a career-high 23 points as the Eagles grabbed a 45-37 home victory against Lakewood. The senior forward dominated both ends of the court in recording her third double-double of the season.

“I’m very excited to play with these girls,” said Galbreath, who played in her 56th varsity game of her career Tuesday night. “We all did it to win it.”

The Eagles (4-6, 1-0 in Class 5A/4A Jeffco League) trailed early when Lakewood junior Keeley Arnold buried a pair of 3-pointers in the opening four minutes of the game to give the Tigers (3-9) a 6-5 lead, but it would be the only two field goals Lakewood would make in the first half.

Dakota Ridge’s defense held Lakewood to just a dozen points in the first half. The Tigers went 6-for-14 from the free-throw line in the opening half as the Eagles took a 23-12 lead at halftime.

“We defintely team bonded a little bit over the Winter Break,” Galbreath said after the Eagles picked up back-to-back wins for the first time this season. “We worked hard, got in the gym and are ready to go.”

Lakewood got things going late in the third quarter. The Tigers connected on four 3-pointers on the way to scoring 17 points in the third.

“We knew Lakewood would go on a run. Every team goes on a run every game,” Galbreath said of the Tigers cutting the Eagles’ lead to 33-29 late in the third quarter. “We just tried to keep calm and play our game. We knew we were going to win it.”

Galbreath made a pair of free throws to close the third quarter and push the Eagles’ lead to 35-29 heading into the final 8 minutes. Senior Maryn Talyat hit a big 3-pointer in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and junior Kate Barbic had her first field goal of the night to give the Eagles a double-digit lead back.

Senior Kayce Brace finished with seven points for the Eagles and sophomore Darian Lewis added six points in the game-winning effort for Dakota Ridge.

Lakewood, who dropped its sixth straight game, was led by Arnold and fellow junior DJ Parrish having a dozen points each for the Tigers. Lakewood will begin 6A Jeffco League play at Columbine (8-5) on Friday, Jan. 12.

Dakota Ridge will actually be right back in action Wednesday, Jan. 9. The Eagles host Golden (5-5) at 6 p.m. in the first half of a girls/boys varsity 5A/4A Jeffco League doubleheader.

“Rest, drink lots of water, maybe watch some film,” Galbreath said of how she was going to get ready for a big conference game against Golden in less that 24 hours after the win over the Tigers. “I’ve just got the rest the body.”