Class 4A: What not to forget from the last teams standing

Mullen and Holy Family were all that stood in the Class 4A girls basketball field before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the end of the state’s basketball tournaments. Dazzling tournament runs saw the Mustangs on one side of the bracket snag wins against Cheyenne Mountain, Montrose and Canon City, followed by an overtime thriller against Berthoud in the Final Four at the Denver Coliseum. The other side featured a defense above all the rest in Holy Family, which held its postseason foes under an average of 31 points through four games. Here are a few notables that shouldn’t soon be forgotten from the top two teams in the classification.   [player_tooltip player_id="95130" first="Megan" last="Pohs"] — just wow [caption id="attachment_141997" align="alignright" width="300"] [player_tooltip player_id="95130" first="Megan" last="Pohs"][/caption] Mullen’s junior point guard sparkled throughout the tournament, which included a 30-point outing in the semifinals OT victory over Berthoud last week. “If [player_tooltip player_id="95130" first="Megan" last="Pohs"] isn’t the 4A player of the year, then there should not be one,” Mustangs coach Frank Cawley<a href="https://www.mullenhigh.com/news-story?pk=1173731&fromId=250614"> told the school’s sports information director, Neil Devlin</a> following that win. And he certainly has a point after the tournament she had. Pohs is the type of player who can throw her team on her back and take over at any moment. Shooting from deep, driving to the rim, solid defense — you want her around the ball in the waning moments. She scored 24 against Cheyenne Mountain and Montrose in the opening two rounds, hitting above a 60 percent clip in each. Then against Berthoud, she went 11 of 12 from the free-throw line, scored 10 of her team’s 12 points in overtime and turned a late steal into a breakaway layup to help seal things.   Holy Family knocking off top talents [caption id="attachment_117379" align="alignright" width="300"] [player_tooltip player_id="116779" first="Alyssa" last="Wells"][/caption] Air Academy standout [player_tooltip player_id="95020" first="Kylee" last="Blacksten"] is a unique talent, and is well known by fans in her home of Colorado Springs and her future basketball home in Boulder at the University of Colorado. Another talent, though ... the Tigers’ defense. Woah. They proved it in the second round against the Kadets when the Tigers held Blacksten to 13 points and the rest of her team to just 14 during a 42-27 win. They did it again in the quarterfinals against Pueblo West and leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id="95017" first="Hannah" last="Simental"], a University of Northern Colorado commit, holding the Cyclones to just four fourth-quarter points in a 50-39 win. And one final time against Green Mountain in the Final Four, leading to a 38-31 victory that saw the Rams go long stretches without finding the net. “It’s team defense,” Holy Family head coach Rob Rossi said throughout the season. “My kids take a lot of pride in defense.” [player_tooltip player_id="116779" first="Alyssa" last="Wells"] helped lead a ferocious two-way attack for Holy Family this year. She scored more than 12 points per game with a lethal driving attack and a feathery touch from deep. Defensively, she showed off elite footwork and magnetic defensive prowess as ball handlers never did much get around her.   And if a time or two they did, the rest of the Tigers were there in support. [caption id="attachment_148673" align="alignright" width="300"] [player_tooltip player_id="145397" first="Tyler" last="Whitlock"][/caption] Throughout the year, Holy Family sent different looks and players at teams’ top players. Guards [player_tooltip player_id="145397" first="Tyler" last="Whitlock"], [player_tooltip player_id="116786" first="Dylan" last="Sanders"] and Wells — all juniors — each averaged more than 3.3 steals per game. Forward [player_tooltip player_id="95138" first="Cecilia" last="Aanerud"], also a junior, was crucial in the paint and none better than in the tournament where she continually punished ball handlers in the form of blocks and smothering post-up defense. All of them helped lead Holy Family to a third straight season with 21 wins.   [player_tooltip player_id="95170" first="Imani" last="Perez"] keeps getting better [caption id="attachment_141996" align="alignright" width="300"] [player_tooltip player_id="95170" first="Imani" last="Perez"][/caption] The Mustangs have a 6-foot-3 forward that is oh-so good. She’s strong on the glass, an efficient scorer and a problematic matchup for teams across the state’s landscape. Oh, and she’s just a sophomore. Perez averaged 9.3 points per game on 54 percent shooting through the season and had 10 games where she hit at two-thirds of her attempts or better. She averaged more boards per game (7.8) than missed shots (3.4).   [caption id="attachment_141992" align="alignleft" width="300"] [player_tooltip player_id="95172" first="Gracie" last="Gallegos"][/caption] And don’t forget [player_tooltip player_id="95172" first="Gracie" last="Gallegos"] Another sophomore, another brimming talent for Mullen. Gallegos nearly doubled her scoring average in year two, up from 5.9 points per game to 10.2. In a quarterfinals win over Canon City, she had a career-high 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting and was 5 of 8 from behind the arc. Guess what, folks, the Mullen Mustangs aren’t going away any time soon.