4A Girls Basketball: Riverdale Ridge Wins First Girls State Title in School History

DENVER – Saturday night was filled with historic milestones for Riverdale Ridge.

At the Denver Coliseum, the Rivderdale Ridge girls basketball team made its first-ever state championship game appearance. The Ravens made the most of it, winning 50-43 over defending 4A champion Holy Family in this year’s 4A finale.

It was the program’s first state title. It was also the school’s first state championship in any girls team sport.

“It means the world, man,” Ravens head coach Tim Jones said. “We’ve been grinding. It’s been a long four years for me. I came in four years ago and we were a new program during COVID.

It’s phenomenal. These girls, this is my first group of seniors that were freshmen so it was my foundation. I’m speechless. I don’t even know what to say.”

Third-seeded Riverdale Ridge led 25-19 at halftime. No. 1 Holy Family, however, tied the game at 30-30 late in the third quarter but the Ravens went on a 7-1 run to close out the quarter.

Holy Family again closed on Riverdale Ridge, cutting the lead to 42-40 with 3 minutes, 46 seconds left in the game but the Ravens were able to pull away in the final minutes to seal the victory with sophomore Brihanna Crittendon leading the way.

Crittendon (28.9 ppg) had a double-double, finishing with 22 points and 16 rebounds while scoring 10 for 16 from the floor, and blocking a pair of shots and tallying 14 of her 22 points in the second half. On the same night she helped lead her team to both making overall and girls sports history at her school, Crittendon received the Sportswomen of Colorado Player of the Game award.

“It’s just so amazing how much women’s basketball has grown in the state of Colorado,” Crittendon said. “All the support around it. All the new things happening. It’s just amazing how much things are growing. I hope I can inspire younger girls to be out, go do themselves and chase their dreams.”

Also for Riverdale Ridge, Brooklyn Charlo scored 11 points and Cimonie Martinez scored 10.

For Holy Family, Gracie Ward scored 11. Sawyer Dana, Jennifer Altshuler and Contreraz Essynce each scored seven points.

The Holy Family girls basketball program is tied for second all-time with seven state championships.

To reach the championship game, Riverdale Ridge won 56-34 over last year’s runner-up No. 2 D’Evelyn. In the other semifinal, Holy Family won 48-42 over Resurrection Christian.