Girls basketball: Holy Family advances to Elite 8

BROOMFIELD — Essynce Contreraz scored 21 points, and Mariah Quintana added 13 as Holy Family High School turned back Skyview High School 54-41 in the round of 16 in the girls 4A state basketball tournament.

The March 1 game was on the Tigers’ floor. Holy Family (21-3) moves into the great 8 and hosts Green Mountain High School at 6 p.m. Friday, March 4.

Skyview ended its season with a mark of 21-4. Mikylah Espinosa closed out her prep career with a 20-point performance. Leila Estrada, a freshman, added nine.

“We worked really well by passing the ball to each other,” said Holy Family center Maggie Dooley, who scored six points. “Our chemistry was really good, and our defense was pretty good. That’s what we emphasize.”

HFHS jumped out to an early 10-point lead, only to see Skyview erase that in the second quarter. Marina Boltz scored five points on successive possessions, and Espinosa followed that with seven points in succession. The Tigers answered by scoring the last seven points of the first half, five of which came off the fingertips of Contreraz.

“We have a lot of good set plays.  (Coach Ron) Rossi is a great coach,” Dooley said. “He knows what’s going to work. He scouts well beforehand. A lot of that was because of him.”

The Tigers steadily pulled away in the second half. Skyview was able to close the gap to three points late in the third quarter but couldn’t get any closer.

“They did a good job of taking away line of sight,” Skyview coach Chris Kemm said. “They forced us to take shots we weren’t comfortable taking, that we weren’t in a position to take. If we moved it a couple more times, maybe we could have had a better shot.”