Ralston Valley girls basketball escapes scare from Chatfield

LITTLETON — A key last-minute steal and block allowed Ralston Valley’s girls basketball team to walk out of Chatfield’s gym victorious Wednesday night.

With under a minute to play and Ralston Valley hanging on to a 47-45 lead, the Mustangs (8-4 record, 2-0 in Class 6A Jeffco League) foiled Chatfield from tying or taking the lead twice.

Ralston Valley sophomore Evi Morwood ripped the ball from Chatfield senior Josie Lynch as she drove toward the basket with under 30 seconds to play. Lynch had another chance, but her potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer was blocked by Ralston Valley senior Kailey Townsend.

“To be honest, I really didn’t really notice what happened until after the buzzer rang,” Townsend said of the block of Lynch’s 3-point attempt. 

The Mustangs escaped with a hard-fought 47-45 conference victory.

“I think every team that plays us is going to play as tough as possible, “ Ralston Valley coach Amy Bahl said. “They know what we are capable of. I’m proud of the way the girls responded. Against Doherty we really didn’t have a response. Tonight we had a response.”

Ralston Valley suffered a 50-31 home loss last Friday before diving into conference play this week. A 69-16 home win over Bear Creek on Monday coupled with the close road win against Chatfield (3-8, 0-2) keeps the Mustangs atop of the league standings early with Arvada West (11-1, 2-0) and Valor Christian (10-2, 2-0).

Chatfield nearly did get a signature victory under first-year head coach Shawn Smith. The Chargers came out on fire offensively scoring 23 points in the first quarter. Sophomore Sadie Goodwin led the charge with 10 points in the first eight minutes.

Goodwin and senior Jordyn Reed both finished with 13 points. Senior Torrence Bosanko added 11 points as Chatfield extended its lead to 39-26 in the third quarter.

The Mustangs got a pair of big 3-pointers from junior Sammi Madden late in the third quarter as Ralston Valley eventually cut the Chargers’ lead to 41-38 heading to the fourth quarter.

A 3-pointer from junior Mia Alfaro tied the game at 41-41 in the first minute of the fourth quarter. An inside bucket by Townsend actually gave Ralston Valley’s its first lead since the first quarter.

“Over the season we’ve played some really tough teams that has helped us build confidence,” Townsend said when asked if she was concerned that battling back from the double-digit deficit would leave the Mustangs drained in the final minutes. “I don’t think it was ever a matter, ‘Are we going to lose?’. We just wanted to get after it.”

Townsend scored the final six points for the Mustangs, but it was the Ralston Valley’s defense that kept Chatfield from scoring the upset.

“I put in a new defense. I had to takeaway with they (Chatfield) was doing really well,” Bahl said. “I tried to pressure their outside shooters a little bit more.”

Chatfield was held to four points in the final quarter after making six 3-pointers in the first three quarters. 

The Chargers were able to hold Ralston Valley sophomore Santana Sabus to a season-low 5 points. Sabus came in averaging more than 21 points per game and eventually fouled out with 2:01 left in the fourth quarter, but her teammates were able to pick her up.

“They stepped up and make some really big shots,” Bahl said of Alfaro, Madden, Morwood and Townsend combining for 42 points. “I really thought Evi played tremendous defense. She was really our energy tonight.”

Ralston Valley is right back at it against defending 6A state champion Valor on Friday, Jan. 17, in Highlands Ranch. The Eagles grabbed a 80-41 road victory against Columbine on Wednesday night.

“I think if we play the game we want to play and not let Valor bully us into playing what they want to do we’ll be more than fine,” Townsend said.

Chatfield hosts Lakewood (4-7, 0-1) on Friday night.