Fountain-Fort Carson girls rally to advance

Highlands Ranch - Despite trailing by one at the half, the Fountain-Fort Carson girls’ basketball team ran to the locker room like they were up by a dozen. The Trojans were starting to believe.

Check out more photos from the game.

No. 3 seed Fountain-Fort Carson knocked off No. 2 ThunderRidge 53-49 at ThunderRidge on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the 5A state tournament on Saturday.

D’Shara Strange scored a game-high 20 points, including the go-ahead basket with 15 seconds to play, and Renata Rankin hit five free throws and a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.

“The first half we proved that we could play with them,” Trojans coach Harry Knight said.  “All week long I’d been telling them they have to believe in themselves.”

Strange made the Trojans (21-4) believers when she cut through the lane looking for a pass. Audra Parmer found Strange, who pulled up for a short jumper. That put the Trojans ahead 51-49.

“I didn’t know I was that open,” Strange said. “I didn’t know I was that close to the basket.”

Point guard Carlie Needles tried to answer for the Grizzlies (18-7), but when her shot came up short, Rankin grabbed the rebound and was fouled. She made both free throws.

“It felt great,” said Rankin, who grabbed eight rebounds and finished with 10 points. “That had to be my best rebound the whole entire game.”

The Trojans’ defense held the sharp-shooting Grizzlies in check. ThunderRidge, which lives by the 3-pointer, died by the 3-pointer. ThunderRidge shot 6-for-24 (25 percent) from behind the arc. F-FC allowed only five Grizzlies to score. Being down 25-24 at half against a team that reached the quarterfinals last season had the Trojans feeling good.

“We had confidence,” Strange said. “We were making turnovers but it was still a pretty close game.”