Chaparral Notches Sweet 16 Win Over Creek

Chaparral coach Tony Speights directs his team during a timeout Wednesday night. The Wolverines defeated Cherry Creek 63-48 to advance to the Great Eight.

Photo by Pat Miller, patmiller.com

By Mike O'Connell

PARKER—Two powers from different conferences hooked up on Wednesday night in a Sweet16 battle at the Chaparral gym. In one corner was Chaparral (19-6) from the powerful Continental League which garnered a number one seed. Representing the Centennial League was Cherry Creek (18-7), which picked up a four seed.
 
Chaparral showed why their league is the premier league in the state as they ran roughshod over an outmanned Cherry Creek team, 63-48.

Led by their dynamic 5-foot-5 junior point guard, Katie Shepard, Chapparral was superior in all areas and sprinted out to a 22-11 lead at the end of one period. They extended the lead to 37-21 at the half as Shepard continually forced the pace and found open teammates.
 
"It was kind of a revenge game for me,” Shepard said. “I played in the Cherry Creek pee wee system growing up and I wanted to show everyone I made the right choice by coming to Chaparral. We played great defense tonight and forced them into some bad shots. We put our best on the ball defender, Melissa Ray, on their best scorer, Shavonne White, and she shut her down pretty well." White made only one field goal and finished with an uncharacteristic seven points.
 
“When we get in trouble is when we don't crash the boards,” Shepard said. “It was a point of emphasis this week in practice. Our bigs came to play tonight."
 
Chaparral continued its aggressiveness after halftime and went ahead 49-30 at the end of the third despite missing Shepard for a few minutes after she took a charge in the lane and was laid out for a short time. She returned and orchestrated the transition offense to perfection. Shepard finished with ten points and nine assists, just above her season average for dishes, at 7.5.
 
Her running mate at shooting guard, Courtney Gallo, provided some clutch outside shooting for the Wolves by knocking down three three-pointers on her way to 14 points. Gallo hurt her ankle badly in practice last week and missed the last game against Durango.
 
"I'm about 60 percent right now, but I'm a senior and this is my last shot," said Gallo who will play at Colorado School of Mines next year.  "I'll continue to get therapy and I'll be good for Saturday. It's so much fun playing with an unselfish point guard like Katie. If you run the floor, she will get you the ball. She's the best ball-handler and passer in the state."
 
Chaparral takes on Heritage at 1 pm on Saturday at the Coliseum. Heritage, a three seed, beat Chaparral earlier in the season when Chaparral was playing its third game in four nights.
 
Said Gallo, "We didn't have any legs the first game when played them. Now we'll have a couple of days to prepare. They have some good players. We have to keep Kim Lockidge off the boards on Saturday. She is relentless.”
 
The field is down to eight with four teams from the Continental League remaining: Chaparral, Highlands Ranch, Heritage and defending champ, Regis.
 
Chaparral was led in scoring by Lori Laboda who had 22 points and Cherry Creek was led by Glenn Gurule who tallied 14.

Checkout the updated brackets.

Contact the writer at newsroom@milehighhoops.com