Finally! The Roaring Fork High School girls basketball team can say they’re regional champions. The prize: A trip to the Colorado 3A State Basketball Championships this week.
The Lady Rams secured the school’s first appearance in the “Great 8” in 21 years by virtue of a pair of wins on their home court last weekend to open the playoffs — 74-46 over Denver’s Manual High on Friday, and 69-56 over the Thomas MacLaren School out of Colorado Springs on Saturday.
After consecutive second-round losses on the road in 2024 to Strasburg and last year to Highland, Roaring Fork — including a trio of multi-year varsity starters — finally punched a ticket to the premier Colorado high school basketball event.
“It feels amazing,” senior co-captain Nikki Tardif said after the Saturday win. “We’ve honestly worked so hard to get here. We deserve this, and we are going to show that next week.”
“Next week” is actually Thursday, March 12, when eighth-seeded Roaring Fork (23-2) opens the championships against No. 1 Denver Christian (24-1) at the University of Denver Hamilton Gymnasium. Game time is 4pm, livestreamed on the NFHS Network by subscription and aired live on KMTS radio.
The winner will advance to the semifinals of the tournament on Friday, with a shot at a state championship on Saturday.
After taking care of business against Manual, the Lady Rams overcame watching an emotional loss by the No. 8 Roaring Fork boys in front of a fired up home crowd Friday night, 64-54 to No. 25 Brush.
“They deserved to take it further, but I think it helped us to see that and know that each game [in the playoffs] could be our last,” said Tardif, who earned a first-team All-Conference selection for the 3A Western Slope League (WSL) this season.
“It was important for us to walk into the gym again on Saturday morning and give it our all.”
Junior co-captain Riley Bevington, the team’s points leader (26 per game) who was named the 3A WSL Player of the Year, said it was important to set the tone early.
“It gets back to our motto this season, ‘No Mercy,’” she said. “You have to step up quickly against these playoff teams, because we know it could be over like that.”
Step up they did, opening a 30-14 halftime lead and overcoming a late surge by the Highlanders to hold on for the 13-point victory. Five Rams scored in double digits, led by Bevington with 18, Tardif with 16, sophomore Annelise Bumgarner with 12, junior co-captain Hazel Jenkins with 11, and freshman Abby Harris with 10.
“I just can’t believe we’re here,” said Jenkins, a second team All-Conference selection. “We worked so hard this whole season, and to finally make it here and see all our work pay off is amazing.”
Added Bevington, “To be able to do this in front of our fans and the community, when it hasn’t been done in a while, is rewarding. We’re here and we’re going to show it to those Denver teams.”
Bumgarner and Harris were among a solid core of underclassmen who filled an important support role this season.
“It’s so fun to work with these three,” Bumgarner, who earned Honorable Mention in the league, said of her co-captain teammates. “This is the funnest team I’ve ever played on, and to be able to keep playing means a lot.”
Added Harris, “They’re all so supportive of me coming in as the little baby freshman, so it’s been an amazing season and I’m so lucky to be a part of it.”
Denver Christian will undoubtedly be a tall order for the Rams, but they’re up to the task.
“We’ll take a look at Denver Christian and see what they do,” third-year head coach Mike Vidakovich said of the team’s preparations this week. “They’ve only lost one game all year [a 48-39 loss to 2A Simla on Dec. 12], and they’re probably ranked number one for a reason.
“We’ll definitely need to work on the press break, and we’ll just keep trying to sharpen what we do,” he said. “But I think these girls might just be as talented as anyone there.”
Ram boys fall to Brush
Despite losing senior rebounding leader and co-captain Kiko Pena, Jr., to a first-half injury, the Roaring Fork boys kept it close against a stout Brush Beetdiggers team in a hard-fought battle Friday night.
Down 19-7 after the first quarter, the Rams battled back to within two, 23-21, at halftime and stayed within striking distance until the final two minutes of play.
“We were OK playing from behind a little bit all season, but at this time of year you have an off game and the other team has a good game, and you’re done, no second chances,” veteran head coach Jason Kreiling said.
“So, that part’s hard,” he said of an emotional locker room after the game, knowing they wouldn’t have a chance to join the Lady Rams at state.
“Our defense kept us in the game, but we just couldn’t get any good momentum going offensively. With that high energy from the home crowd, I thought we’d fall into sync, but we just never got it together.”
Six seniors played their final game in a Rams jersey: Pena and fellow first-team All-Conference selection Lucas Carballeira, who was named 3A WSL Player of the Year; Honorable Mention picks Ryder Tezanos and Ethan Wilson; and classmates AJ McDermott and Blake David.
Junior Quentin Galbraith earned second team All-Conference, and Kreiling was named WSL Coach of the Year.