Karin Nicholls bounded into the already raucous Windsor huddle after the Wizards whipped Glenwood Springs, 65-35, in the Class 5A Final 4 to advance to the program’s third straight title game.
“Let’s go!” she screamed at her team. “One more! One more!”
Make no mistake, this season it’s always been about the final game for Windsor, which took runner-up to Mullen in the Class 4A final the past two seasons. The Wizards believe the third time’s the charm at the Denver Coliseum, and are determined to go home Saturday with the program’s second crown and first since 1994.
“We’re tired of taking home the silver trophy — we want the gold,” senior Raegan Johnson said. “There’s nobody that wants it more than every single person in our locker room.”
The Wizards jumped on the Demons early, using constant pressure and an edge in size to take a 10-point lead after the first quarter. Glenwood Springs settled in during the second quarter, but the Demons still weren’t playing with the confidence they did in the upset of top-seeded George Washington in the Great 8 as Windsor led 35-22 at half.
Coming back out of the locker room, Windsor played like the favorite, and like a team with another title bout in its sights. The Demons took over three minutes to score their first basket of the second half, and the Windsor lead ballooned to 25 points by the end of the third as Glenwood Springs only scored one bucket in the quarter.
“We knew we could dominate with depth on the defensive side of things, and at times this season, we haven’t played well in the third quarter when we’re up,” Nicholls said. “Tonight we came out locked in to start the second half.”
Windsor took its lumps early on in the season amid a stacked schedule that saw the Wizards lose to three of the four Class 6A Final 4 teams in Grandview, Cherry Creek and Monarch, plus fell in a narrow two-point defeat to Roosevelt. That grueling schedule added to the team’s early-season growing pains.
“I thought (Nicholls) was crazy when she came to me and said, ‘This is the schedule that I want,’” Windsor athletic director Eric Johnson said with a laugh. “I reminded her that we graduated 80 percent of our starting offense and virtually all of our scoring. At one point we played six of the Top 10 Class 6A teams, played No. 1 twice in Cherry Creek and Monarch. We came in a tick under .500 into the league schedule, but never lost sight of what the plan was.”
Windsor also lost back-to-back Northern League games to Mead (71-70 in overtime) and Holy Family (50-47) on Feb. 15 and 17 that set a tone of urgency for the stretch run.
“That was the best thing that ever happened to us,” Nicholls said. “We had gotten a little disconnected. You go 12-0 in league play and maybe we think we’re a little better than we are. And we’re not. Anybody can get you on any given night. For us, it was a turning point, because they refocused like I’ve never seen a team do.”
Johnson and sophomore Brooklyn Jiricek paced the Wizards with 10 points, while South Dakota School of Mines commit Samantha Darnell added nine points, as did senior guard Hailee Wright. The balanced scoring effort was underscored by Windsor’s domination in the paint, as the Wizards out-rebounded Glenwood Springs 40-20.
Darnell, the Wizards’ lone returning starter from last year, is taking the Final 4 win in stride. She doesn’t want to leave the arena for a third straight year with unfinished business.
“I want revenge this year and I want that trophy,” Darnell said. “I want to hold it and raise it up and celebrate with my best friends. ”
Windsor takes on Roosevelt in Saturday’s title at 5:45 p.m. When the teams met earlier in the year in Windsor, the Rough Riders eked out a 61-59 win. Wright led all scorers with 18 points in the game.
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