Florence girls rocked by Faith Christian in 3A quarterfinals

FORT COLLINS — Florence coach Brandon Roe knows how it feels on the frayed end of a seeded upset.

And then some.

No. 8 Faith Christian scored 26 points with a handful of minutes left in the first half while the top-seeded Huskies scored 26 the entire game as they lost 52-26 in the 3A girls state quarterfinals at Colorado State’s Moby Arena.

“I hope we weren’t (looking) past them,” said Roe, days past knocking off four-time defending champ and then-No. 1-ranked Holy Family in the round of 16. “I mean Faith Christian is a really tough team.”

At the beginning of the tournament teams were ranked 1-32. After the upset against top-ranked Holy Family the then-No. 9 Huskies were reseeded as the No. 1 team.

“Everyone is thankful they don’t have to play Holy Family,” Florence senior guard Kalli Conway told the Cañon City Daily Record on Tuesday. “But they have no idea what’s coming at them.”

Nobody did.

Florence was doused from the start.

The Huskies (15-10) shot 26 percent and hit just one 3. On top of that they had 27 turnovers, which led to 29 points.

On the other end, the Eagles (17-8) shot 40 percent and quickly nailed the game shut.

Faith Christian led 17-4 after the first. Britney Warren’s bucket was the lone hoop of the quarter for the Huskies.

“We didn’t come out with the same fight as we did against (Holy Family),” said Warren, who scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. “That game we were all together. Today we just weren’t for some reason.”

Warren and Cortlyne Huppe, who finished with six points, combined for all 10 of Florence’s points in the second quarter.

Faith Christian’s 52 percent shooting in the first half gave it a 31-14 lead.

The deficit would only grow as the Eagles outscored the Huskies 21-12 in the final 16 minutes.

“We didn’t execute well,” Roe said. “We didn’t run our offense well.”

Other than forwards Warren and Huppe, Florence shot 2-for-23 from the floor and scored eight points. Florence actually won the rebound margin 35-31.

“We started to point fingers and blame each other on the court,” Warren said. “We lost our mental toughness.”

As time expired Casey Chaney missed an open layup to seal, what was for the Huskies, a terrible day.

Faith Christian was led by Abigail Hegarty’s 12 points and Caroline Jenkens’ 10. The Eagles will be in the semifinals Friday vs. Trinidad (25-0) after it beat Olathe in a 42-39 nail-biter. Florence will face Olathe (22-3) in the consolation semifinals at 8:45 a.m. Friday.