Fall League Action: Eight Teams Gearing Up

<span style="font-size: 8pt;">* Monarch Coyotes pictured above</span> If you heard some commotion around downtown Denver last Wednesday night it was just the <strong>Horizon</strong> girls basketball team dropping bombs from long range again and again. In an era of positionless players, the Hawks go old-school. Their bigs are big. Their smalls are small. And they all play their roles well. I wasn’t going to cover Horizon because<a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/2021/09/metro-state-fall-league-52-days-to-tryouts/"> I discussed them last week</a>, but they were too good not to. Over a span of five minutes in a Metro State fall league game against Rock Canyon, Horizon went: <ul> <li>Alyssa Temple three</li> <li>Alyssa Temple three</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="117703" first="Audra" last="Vine"] baseball pass off the dribble for a 50-foot assist to a sprinting [player_tooltip player_id="316803" first="Britta" last="Cardenas"]</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="329394" first="Kaitlin" last="Schumann"] three</li> <li>Alyssa Temple three</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="316803" first="Britta" last="Cardenas"] charge taken</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="117703" first="Audra" last="Vine"] diving hustle play</li> <li>and to cap it off, [player_tooltip player_id="331323" first="Morgan" last="Ives"] stops and pops a buzzer-beating thirty-five footer. Boom.</li> </ul> When your 6’3" and 5’11" bigs are slangin' torpedoes, just say goodnight. They did all this without one of the most explosive Hawks, [player_tooltip player_id="331177" first="Natalie" last="Thornton"]. Horizon is top-ten 5A good. <strong>Rock Canyon</strong> has had a cohesive, productive fall season, winning half their games in the Gold Crown league and nearly all their games in the Metro State league. [player_tooltip player_id="329416" first="Emma" last="Pillsbury"] has come on as a quick-release lefty who even has a dependable stepback in her quiver. Emily Courchaine (2023) is one who the Jaguars want handling the ball. She’s a solid decision-maker. I didn’t get to see leading scorer and one of the top Continental League 2023 prospects in [player_tooltip player_id="318867" first="Nella" last="Castaneda"] but add her to the mix and the Jaguars are looking stronger this year even though Horizon’s light show was too much for the Jaguars on this night. <strong>Ponderosa</strong> took on Douglas County. One player who was a clear standout in terms of work ethic and intensity is [player_tooltip player_id="95229" first="Kayli" last="Spall"]. She looks like she wants to tear her opponents apart. I love it. In a one minute span, she hit a three off the dribble, a pull up midrange bucket, and took a perimeter charge just by getting up into her opponent and gritting her teeth. Not to mention, Spall can shoot and scored a lot around the rim both last Wednesday and last season, averaging 9.1 PPG. Spall is joined by senior shooter, [player_tooltip player_id="207085" first="Kaitlin" last="Kyle"], who hit 32% behind the arc (10.5 PPG) and didn’t miss a free throw until her lucky thirteenth game of the year (23-24, 96% on the season). <strong>Douglas County</strong> showed plenty of fight. [player_tooltip player_id="329399" first="Isabella" last="Newbold"] took control midway through the second half. Call her a versatile guard with post moves or mobile post with guard handles. Either way, she sprinted in transition for a sweet left-handed layup and followed it with a spot-up three on the next play. The Huskies should return 81% of their scoring this year led by Newbold’s 7.9 PPG but it sounds like they've lost center Josie Hummel (2023, 6.0 PPG) for the season due to an injury. I know Hummel from the club scene. She's a smart, respectful, amazing kid and a heck of a strong center so this is a heartbreaking loss for the Huskies. Douglas County and Ponderosa are both so good at coaching their systems. On one end is Douglas County scoring on well-designed backdoor sets on out-of-bounds plays. On the other end is Ponderosa running transition fade screening action for Kyle in a fall league. These programs are buying in and it’s showing. Douglas County won a close game. Fast forward to Monday night and it was the championship round of the fall league over at Gold Crown. The semis pitted <strong>Columbine</strong> (7-1) vs <strong>Monarch</strong> (4-4) and <strong>Mead</strong> (5-3) vs <strong>Legend</strong> (5-3). Monarch has an efficient distributer in [player_tooltip player_id="222378" first="Natalie" last="Guanella"] and a pair of versatile forwards in [player_tooltip player_id="318878" first="Arezo" last="Safi"] and [player_tooltip player_id="318873" first="Amelia" last="Rosin"], plus riser Reese Trobaugh (2024) hitting threes. The Coyotes outlasted the Rebels despite the dominance of the Columbine’s [player_tooltip player_id="216675" first="Elizabeth" last="Gentry"] and [player_tooltip player_id="117697" first="Jessica" last="Bollwahn"] in a close game. The Mead and Legend semi went into overtime and featured the arrival of a name you’ll want to know. Brooklynn Charlo can run, shoot, and defend like crazy. Her on-ball defense is ruthless and this freshman showed how well she’ll fit in at Mead. In a threes and layups world, Charlo dropped twenty-five points in the semifinal and EVERY POINT came from behind the arc, at the rim, or at the line. Yikes. This stacked program includes [player_tooltip player_id="145418" first="Charlotte" last="Brennan"] who draws more help than a rich and generous grandmother, and [player_tooltip player_id="145425" first="Kyra" last="Haan"] who helped the Mavericks advance to the final with two late threes to seal the overtime win. Mead was even missing two of their best athletes, [player_tooltip player_id="316813" first="Jackie" last="Stephenson"] (<a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/2021/07/nike-tournament-of-champions-co-17uers-in-chicago/">featured here</a>), and Maddox Boston. Brennan, Stephenson, Haan, and Morrow all averaged double-digit scoring last season. In the championship game, [player_tooltip player_id="222378" first="Natalie" last="Guanella"] gave the Coyotes a spark right before halftime with her strong-willed attacking of the rim to give Monarch an 18-14 halftime lead. Mead's [player_tooltip player_id="117722" first="Edie" last="Morrow"], though, is a lot to handle and the Mavs countered with a crash-run-attack-repeat formula to sprint their way to a 29-24 lead with five minutes to play. Monarch scrapped to even the score on an [player_tooltip player_id="318878" first="Arezo" last="Safi"] left-handed drive through contact, and one. She converted to give Monarch a 30-29 lead with 2:53 to play. Monarch’s big three of Guanella, Safi, and [player_tooltip player_id="318873" first="Amelia" last="Rosin"] are a lot to deal with since Guanella is always a threat to shoot, drive, or create. Mead runs good stuff, getting backdoor attempts and open threes at will, but couldn’t finish on the next play and it was Guanella who was able to create some more, penetrating middle and finding Arezo for a late dish and another left-handed basket to go up 32-29 with 1:18 to play. The Mavs hit another backdoor but the reverse layup crawled off the iron no good. From there, Rosin's free throws sealed the Gold Crown fall championship for the Coyotes. In the consolation game, Legend beat Columbine in overtime. We’ll see you in the gym again soon as teams build momentum for the highly anticipated high school season. &nbsp;