Lady Wildcat season comes to a close one game into State Tourney

Participants and attendees of last week’s Colorado State Basketball Tournament were part of history in the making, but not for the traditional and expected reasons. Pandemonium caused by recent developments with the COVID-19 outbreak forced several last-minute changes determined by the Colorado High School Activities Association in the Tournament’s format and ultimately resulted in a complete cancellation following round one on Thursday.

Ruling by CHSAA late Wednesday evening was made to limit the number of attendees who would be allowed to watch the games. Those who would be admitted included teams, team personnel, four spectators per athlete and media with proper CHSAA credentials. It was a compromise made after original plans called for no spectators at host venues.

At the time of the ruling, CHSAA commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green said, “While this decision is a difficult one, we do want the students who have worked so hard to be able to have a culminating event that reflects the commitment they have made throughout the season.”

With those standards set in place, the Fleming Lady Wildcats opened the 1A State Tournament on Thursday, March 12 as scheduled in front of a very limited audience. They advanced into the State bracket with a District 4 runner-up title following a loss to the Briggsdale Lady Falcons and a Region 2 win over the Lone Star Lady Longhorns. As the number four seed, the Lady Wildcats took on the number five seeded Shining Mountain Lady Lions at the University of Northern Colorado’s Butler Hancock Arena in Greeley. Shining Mountain earned their spot in the State bracket with a District 8 runner-up title and a Region 2 state-qualifying win over Flatirons Academy.

Scoring looked even between the two teams for the majority of the game. Fleming owned a three-point lead after the first quarter, 13-10. The local ladies tacked another two points on to their advantage in the second quarter, 11-9, to go up by five by the end of the half, 24-19.

Shining Mountain returned following halftime to outscore Fleming in both quarters of the second half. The Lady Lions closed in on three points of Fleming’s lead in the third quarter, 10-7, to put them down by two heading in to the final eight minutes of play, 31-29.

Shining Mountain opened with the first possession of the fourth quarter and struck first on the scoreboard following traded possessions. The Lady Lions hit a three-point shot with a minute and half off the ticker in the fourth to take the lead, 32-31. Just seconds later, Shining Mountain’s defensive press would result in a steal that gave their offense another two points to go up by three, 34-31.

Minutes later, a Fleming foul would put the Lady Lions on the free-throw line for a chance to go up by another two. A missed free-throw on the two-point opportunity added just one to Shining Mountain’s lead, 35-31.

Fleming would answer back with just over four minutes left to play when junior Kendyl Kirkwood made a two-point shot cutting Shining Mountain’s lead to two once again. About a minute later, sophomore Zoey Vandenbark would drive up court and sink a two-point jump shot to tie the game at 35 all.

Fleming would regain the lead with two and half minutes to play when sophomore Whitney Chintala forced a steal under Fleming’s net. She earned an assist with a pass to Kirkwood who nailed a shot to put her in double digits on the scoreboard.

With a little more than a minute left in the contest, a foul on Fleming would send Shining Mountain to the free-throw line where two good charity shots would once again tie the ball game, 37-37. A Lady Lion foul with 37 seconds left on the clock put Kirkwood on the free-throw line. She sunk one of two shots to give Fleming a one-point advantage.

With the ball in Shining Mountain’s possession, the Lady Wildcats played tough defense forcing the ball carrier to pick up the ball with 25 seconds left on the clock. Shining Mountain would call a time out just short of a five-second call to retain their possession. Following that break, the Lady Lions put up a missed shot that was rebounded by Kirkwood. Fleming’s offense failed to capitalize on the possession, but maintained their single-point lead when the Lady Wildcats turned the ball over on an out-of-bounds call with just seconds left on the clock.

Shining Mountain threw the ball in bounds and found a player underneath who took a shot and missed. The offensive rebound went to Shining Mountain who put up shot up as the buzzer sounded. The two-point shot fell and gave the Lady Lions the round-one single-point victory, 39-38.

Shining Mountain’s win would allow them to advance to the semifinal contest on Friday against the number-one seeded Springfield Lady Longhorns. Fleming would drop into the consolation bracket for a Friday morning contest against the number eight ranked McClave Lady Cardinals. At least that is how the bracket should have played out.

But the culminating event mentioned by Blanford-Green would never come to fruition following a second ruling by CHSAA made late Thursday night after opening games of the Tournament had taken place. CHSAA stated that their intentions were to continue with the Tournament until a cancellation was forced by either a State agency or a hosting venue. That time came when the University of Denver, the 3A host site, informed CHSAA they could not continue to be the venue for 3A State basketball. It was at that point, CHSAA cancelled the Tournament altogether.

"Everything we've done up to this point was to try and keep the experience of a state basketball tournament for our student participants and high school communities," said Blanford-Green. "In the face of this unprecedented public health emergency, we are compelled to discontinue play in all tournaments."

And just like that the season stopped short with no definite conclusion. Years of effort for many basketball players across the State would be diminished and Championship hopefuls will never get their shot.

“It was a disappointment that we couldn’t finish our season,” said Lady Wildcat Head Coach Randy Kirkwood. “These kids worked really hard on making it to the State Tournament and we were all wishing that we could have played our last couple games. It was a great season and the kids should be proud of the season they had.”

CHSAA has since gone on to postpone the spring sports season until early April as well.

Fleming’s season ended after playing one of a possible three games in the 1A State Tournament. The squad could have finished the year with a consolation championship at State. At the season’s conclusion, the Lady Wildcats held a 21-3 overall record with two losses to the Briggsdale Lady Falcons who entered the State bracket as the number two seed. Briggsdale fell to Cotopaxi by three points in their lone contest of this year’s State Tournament on Thursday. Had Friday’s contests been played and had Fleming and Briggsdale won, the two teams would have met for the fourth time this season.

With an impressive overall record, the Fleming Lady Wildcats finished the season strong and their entire squad is expected to return next year. As the eldest member of the team, Kirkwood is set to lead her team as a senior for the 2020-21 season.

“Fortunately, we have no seniors,” Coach Kirkwood added, “so we will all be back next year and continue to build our program!”

In addition to the senior Kirkwood, the Lady Wildcat roster will also boast several returning juniors and sophomores with varsity experience. Included in those expected to return is freshman starter Kally Kirkwood who sustained an ACL injury in the final game of the regular season against Peetz.