ALAMOSA – The fifth-ranked Alamosa High School girls basketball team won a pair of games in Class 4A regional tournament action at the AHS gym to qualify for the Class 4A Great 8.

First the Lady Mean Moose defeated Weld Central 41-29 on Friday. Then they overcame an eight-point halftime deficit and defeated Kent Denver 46-41 on Saturday.

“These girls played hard and they never gave up,” said Alamosa coach Ty Crowther. “It could have been bad coming into halftime being down, but they have heart. It’s a special group of girls and I’m so proud of them.”

“It was exciting,” said Alamosa senior Morgan Ortega, who played in her final home game. “We were down in the first half. But I think we came out as a team in the second half and played together.”

Alamosa 41, Weld Central 29

The Lady Rebels took an early 4-0 lead on jumpers by Isabel Weisenborn and Holly Cook. Audrina Knorr put the Lady Mean Moose on the board with a layup.

Riley Phelps pushed the Weld Central lead back to four points, but Aubrey Rothermich made two free throws and Knorr split at the line. Rothermich and Jaelin Garcia both made layups to give Alamosa a 9-6 lead.

Phelps made one of two from the line, and Cook drained a 3-point shot to put Weld Central back into the lead at 10-9. But Garcia scored in the paint to give the Lady Mean Moose an 11-10 edge at the end of the first quarter.

Arreli Felix opened the second quarter scoring by splitting at the line. Phelps drove for a layup to tie the score, but Ortega made a three for a 15-12 Alamosa lead.

Cook also made a trey to deadlock the score at 15-15. But Rothermich and Garcia both made short jumpers for a 19-15 Alamosa lead.

The Lady Rebels scored the final six points of the quarter with Cook scoring two points and Weisenborn four and Weld Central ed 21-19 at halftime.

The Lady Mean Moose came alive in the third quarter. First Ortega sank a 3-pointer to put Alamosa back in front for good. Knorr then made two free throws, and Ortega bounced another three off the backboard. Rothermich made a layup, and Ortega made her fourth trey of the game for a 32-21 advantage.

Kadie Hawkins made a layup, and Leela Gutierrez made back-to-back baskets to give the Lady Mean Moose their largest lead at 38-21.

Weisenborn closed out the third period with a jumper, but Alamosa led 38-23.

Gracie Weber began the fourth quarter with a pair of free tosses, but Gutierrez swished a 3-pointer.

Weld Central scored four points in six attempts to close out the scoring

Ortega led Alamosa in scoring with 12 points, followed by Rothermich with eight and Gutierrez with seven.

Weisenborn was the Lady Rebels’ top scorer with 13 points.

Alamosa 46, Kent Denver 41

Gutierrez scored the first two points to give the Lady Mean Moose the lead. But Austin Duncan hit a jumper and Caroline Phillips buried a trey. Kaiya Okizaki then split at the line to give the Lady Sun Devils a 6-2 lead.

Ortega made a pair of free throws, but Duncan made one of two free tosses. Ortega then knocked down a three to tie the score at 7-7.

Okizaki split at the line, and Duncan drove for a layup to give Kent Denver a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Kaylah Miller began the second quarter by making one of two free throws. Ortega then made a jumper, but Okizaki drained a 3-pointer for a 14-9 advantage.

Garcia hit another jumper, but Duncan scored five straight points. Phillips made another 3-pointer for a 22-11 Lady Sun Devils lead.

Ortega cut the lead to 22-13, but Duncan split at the line. Ortega closed out the first half with a layup to close the deficit to 23-15 at halftime.

Okizaki scored the first points of the second half, but Alamosa again came alive in the third period scoring 12 straight points. Knorr made a layup, and Ortega made back-to-back layups to cut the Kent Denver lead to 25-21. Rothermich cut the lead to two, and Felix tied the score at 25-25. Garcia’s layup put the Lady Mean Moose back in front at 27-25.

Duncan ended the run with a jumper and she then made two free throws to give the Lady Sun Devils a 29-27 edge.

Rothermich buried a three and Garcia drove for a layup for a 32-29 Alamosa lead at then end of the third quarter.

Garcia scored again to open the fourth quarter. But Duncan made five out of six free throws within a 63-second span to deadlock the score at 34-34 with 5:13 left in the game.

Rothermich then made two straight baskets to give Alamosa the lead for good. Felix and Knorr both scored to extend the advantage to 42-34.

Duncan ended the rally with two free throws. Knorr then split at the line, but Kara Fitzpatrick made a 3-pointer and she later split at the line to bring the Lady Sun Devils within 43-40 with 1:21 left to play.

Knorr made another free throw and Ortega two. Channing Tierney wrapped up the scoring by splitting at the line.

Ortega led the Lady Mean Moose with 17 points, followed by Rothermich with eight.

Duncan led all scorers with 22 points.

What’s next

Alamosa (19-6) will next play Holy Family in the state quarterfinals Wednesday at the Denver Coliseum. Tip-off is at 8:45 a.m.

“It’s win or go home,” Crowther said. “These girls have heart, so I’m not worried. If we play our game, no one can compete with us.”

“I think coming into regionals it was going to be tough no matter what,” Ortega said. “Everybody is here to play and everybody is ready to play.”

Should the Lady Mean Moose win, they will play either University or D’Evelyn on Friday. A loss will end the season.

Alamosa 41, Weld Central 29

Weld Central – Blake 0 0-0 0, G. Weber 0 2-2 2, Cook 2 1-2 7, Weisenborn 5 3-4 13, Phelps 2 1-2 5, A. Weber 0 0-0 0, Marchand 0 0-0 0, Huwa 0 0-0 0, Swarts 0 0-0 0, Hopp 1 0-0 2, Hopkins 0 0-0 0, Brown 0 0-0 0. Total 10 7-10 29.

3-point goals – Cook 2. Total 2.

Alamosa – Ortega 4 0-0 12, Rothermich 3 2-2 8, Knorr 1 3-4 5, Felix 0 1-2 1, Garcia 3 0-2 6, Quintana 0 0-0 0, Montoya 0 0-0 0, Villalva 0 0-0 0, Gutierrez 3 0-0 7, Hawkins 1 0-0 2. Total 15 6-10 41.

3-point goals – Ortega 4, Gutierrez 1. Total 5.

Weld Central 10 11 2 6 – 29

Alamosa 11 8 19 3 – 41

Fouls – Weld Central 13, Alamosa 14.

Alamosa 46, Kent Denver 41

Kent Denver – Miller 0 1-2 1, K. Fitzpatrick 1 1-2 4, Okizaki 2 2-4 7, Duncan 5 11-14 22, Phillips 2 0-0 6, M. Fitzpatrick 0 0-0 0, Tierney 0 1-2 1. Total 10 16-24 41.

3-point goals – Phillips 2, K. Fitzpatrick 1, Duncan 1, Okizaki 1. Total 6.

Alamosa – Ortega 6 4-6 17, Rothermich 4 0-4 9, Knorr 2 2-8 6, Felix 2 0-1 4, Garcia 4 0-0 8, Quintana 0 0-0 0, Montoya 0 0-0 0, Gutierrez 1 0-2 2, Hawkins 0 0-0 0. Total 19 16-21 46.

3-point goals – Ortega 1, Rothermich 1. Total 2.

Kent Denver 10 13 6 12 – 41

Alamosa 7 8 17 14 – 46

Fouls – Kent Denver 15, Alamosa 21. Fouled out – Duncan. Technical fouls – Duncan; Rothermich.