Defense the star as Poudre girls basketball team advances to Sweet 16
Kevin Lytle
kevinlytle@coloradoan.com
The Poudre High School girls basketball team is the best defensive unit in Class 5A and the Impalas put on a clinic Friday night.
Host Poudre, a No. 2 seed, completely shut down any offensive game plan for No. 7 Legend on the way to a 54-30 win in the second round of the 5A playoffs.
The final score was lopsided, but even it doesn't tell the story of how dominant Poudre (19-5) was.
Legend (13-12) was held to two points in the first quarter and only nine in the first three quarters combined. Poudre held a 43-9 lead after three quarters before the meaningless fourth quarter.
Poudre allowed the fewest points of any team in 5A and prides itself on defense. The Impalas get their energy from making teams struggle on offense.
"We really thrive on our defense, it's what gets our offense going," Poudre's McKenzie McDaniel said. "It's so much fun (to create turnovers). It gives us so much energy and confidence in each other."
The defense was as good as anything you would find in an instructional video. There was always a hand in the passing lane, there were no open drives or easy passes. Coach Curtis Glesmann said there was only one uncontested shot for Legend in the first half.
"We did a nice job keeping them out of the paint, we made a mess of the paint," Glesmann said. "That's a hallmark of our team."
As the defense was dominant, it led to easy offense. McDaniel led all scorers with 17 points, 11 coming in the first half. Her twin, Ashley, added nine. Cecilia Berkner also had nine as the Impalas found no trouble filling the void left with Colorado State University signee Myanne Hamm sidelined for most of the first half with foul trouble.
Poudre advances to the Sweet 16 where it will host No. 3 Grand Junction (22-2) on Tuesday. Game time is not set. Grand Junction beat No. 6 Monarch 53-49 to advance to the Sweet 16.
"They'll have good players that do good things, but we need to focus on executing our offense and keeping our defense strong," McKenzie McDaniel said.
Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle at twitter.com/Kevin_Lytle and at facebook.com/KevinSLytle.
POUDRE 54, LEGEND 30
Legend — Gallagher 6, Luitjens 6, Sale 5, Jordan 5, Jacob 4, Benglen 3. 10 5-7 30.
Poudre — M.McDaniel 17, A.McDaniel 9, Berkner 9, My.Hamm 7, Haugen 5, Lonowski 5, Ma.Hamm 2. 17 15-22 54.
3-point field goals — Legend 3 (Luitjens, Sale, Jordan), Poudre 3 (M.McDaniel, A.McDaniel, Berkner).