Grandview tells a tall tale

 

It was another loss to a Class 5A power for Mullen, but the approach and effort weren’t issues.

The Mustangs may have appeared timid recently in a 20-point blowout loss to defending big-school champion Cherry Creek, but it wasn’t the case on Wednesday night against Grandview, which has won two of the past three Colorado crowns and was runner-up a year ago. The Wolves also were coming off a 25-point blowout of Cherry Creek.

No, the Mustangs, defending 4A champions, certainly gave it a go in a 58-36 loss at Hutchison Fieldhouse. They just couldn’t keep up with the Wolves, who have a relative skyscraper-like front line and won their 67^th Centennial League games in 68 tries.

This just in – the Wolves, 13-2 overall, 7-0 in league, are quite good inside.

“Yes, they are … and they’re pretty good outside, too,” Mustangs coach Frank Cawley said. “You roll the dice against them.”

Mullen, like teams throughout the rest of the state to date, couldn’t deal with Grandview’s height. Sophomore Lauren Betts is 6-foot-7. Junior Addison O’Grady is 6-4. And sophomore move-in Marya Hudgins is 6-0. Betts was best, scoring a game-high 18 points, and rebounding and blocking shots seemingly at will.

“We can’t play any better post defense,” Cawley said of the Mustangs’ inside work headed by Imani Perez. “We did not play scared and I’m very proud of them. To beat a team like that, we needed some breaks and that just didn’t happen.”

Mullen began boldly with nice defense and a 5-0 lead, but the Wolves simply gathered themselves and grabbed the lead for good at 8-7. In addition to Betts, Grandview canned six 3-pointers and was aided as Mullen didn’t shoot particularly well, notably making just seven of its first 30 attempts. Plus, the Mustangs scored only three points in the fourth quarter that proved to be mostly garbage time after climbing within 43-33 after the third.

Junior point guard Megan Pohs topped Mullen with nine points.

As teams head into the second half of the Centennial schedule, Cawley said he’s pleased.

“We can learn so much from this game,” he said. “Nobody else in the entire 4A is playing teams like this. This is just an opportunity to improve.”

Mullen will open the second league round in a Saturday matinee, 3:30 p.m. at home against Arapahoe.

 

Grandview – Johnson 5 0-0 14, Hudson 1 0-0 2, O’Grady 4 0-4 8, Hudgins 4 0-0 9, Betts 8 2-4 18, Brown 0 0-0 0, Jones 2 0-0 4, Campbell 1 0-0 3, Robinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 2-8 58.

Mullen – Pohs 3 2-2 9, Martinez 2 0-0 6, Van Horn 0 1-2 1, Perez 2 0-0 5, Gallegos 2 1-2 5, Dominguez 1 0-0 2, Webster 1 0-0 3, Elges 0 0-0 0, Oates-Stamm 0 0-2 0, Freelon 0 3-4 3. Totals 12 7-12 36.

3-pt. goals – Johnson 4, Campbell, Hudgins; Martinez 2, Perez, Pohs, Webster. Technical foul – Johnson.