Three notes on Westminster and Denver South in Season B

The Westminster Wolves have been steadily improving as a program for the past several season and kicked off the Season B campaign with a big win over Denver South on Tuesday night. The Wolves led for nearly the entire game but it game came down to the wire, with Denver South making a comeback and Westminster pulling out a 61-59 victory. It was a riveting opener for two guard-heavy teams that looked eager to get back on the floor and run. Here are three takeaways from the action and some things to expect from the two teams this season. <img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-250691" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/01/Mia-Sanchez-Westminster2-222x300.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="300" /> <strong>Westminster has shooters, like, a bunch of them</strong> From behind the 3-point line in 2018-19, the Westminster girls were second in the EMAC with 424 attempts and shot 24 percent. They averaged 4.3 made 3-pointers per game and there’s good reason to expect that number to increase in Season B. A big reason for that anticipated increase is incoming transfer [player_tooltip player_id="95233" first="Alexei" last="Trujillo"], who played for Columbine as a freshman last season and quickly made a name for herself with several big-time postseason performances. In her “Westy” debut, Trujillo went 3 for 9 from 3-point range and scored a game-high 23 points. That included an 8-for-10 night at the free-throw line and 12 fourth-quarter points that helped stave off a Denver South comeback, which she managed despite either drawing the opponent’s top defenders or being double-teamed late in the game. Trujillo has good ball skills and a quick release. At one point late in Tuesday’s game, she put that quick release on display by catching an indbounds pass and sinking a three ball almost in touch-pass fashion with the ball staying in her hands for less than half a second. Truthfully, it wasn’t Westminster’s best shooting night. But the Wolves still sank seven 3-pointers with Mia Sanchez, [player_tooltip player_id="216676" first="Brooke" last="Gomez"], [player_tooltip player_id="216639" first="Ashley" last="Alvarez"] and [player_tooltip player_id="216660" first="Valeria" last="Covarrubias"] all pitching in. <img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-250690" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/01/Briasia-Johnson-Denver-South6-1-222x300.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="300" /> <strong>Denver South’s stable of attacking guards is still full</strong> College hoops-bound senior [player_tooltip player_id="116758" first="Timiya" last="Guevara"] has long been known as the driving force for the team now knows as the “Ravens” and she led the team with 19 points on Tuesday. The undersized yet hard-charging point guard showed she can still penetrate with the best in the state and did most of her damage at the free-throw line, where she went 10 for 13. But last season, young backcourt players [player_tooltip player_id="95219" first="Briasia" last="Johnson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="145436" first="Tay" last="Williams"] took big steps forward and played significant minutes as freshman in 2019-20. Both players looked good against Westminster and showed the ability to both get into the paint and shoot from long range, combining for 27 points while hitting four 3-pointers. Especially now that sharpshooting specialist [player_tooltip player_id="115767" first="Carly" last="Dilworth"] has graduated, there should be plenty more opportunities for Johnson and Williams to show what they can do in Season B. <img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-250692" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/01/Nevaeh-Millard-Denver-South5-1-300x222.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="222" /> <strong>Both teams have intriguing freshmen to watch</strong> Of the 120 total points scored in Tuesday’s season opener, 45 were scored by freshmen. That’s 37.5 percent of the two teams’ scoring output coming from six players who are still in ninth grade and were making their high school basketball debuts. For Westminster, [player_tooltip player_id="216639" first="Ashley" last="Alvarez"] scored 12 points, Mia Sanchez had eight, [player_tooltip player_id="216676" first="Brooke" last="Gomez"] finished with seven and [player_tooltip player_id="216660" first="Valeria" last="Covarrubias"] chipped in five. As mentioned above, each of those players hit a 3-pointer in the game. On the other side, Denver South freshman [player_tooltip player_id="216701" first="Nevaeh" last="Millard"] was particularly impressive. Finishing with 11 points in her prep debut, Millard was aggressive with the ball in her hands and was strong at the defensive end of the floor. She handled the ball well, attacked the basket and was effective in transition.