Colorado Springs Christian School showed St. Mary’s that the gap between No. 3 and No. 6 is larger than a poll can measure.

Class 3A’s No. 3-ranked Lions held the No. 6 Pirates to season lows in points in a quarter (2), field goal percentage (25) and points in a game with a 74-32 win at St. Mary’s on Friday.

“For us, this was a big game, this was our rivalry game,” said CSCS’s Grace Minihane, who finished with a game-high 28 points. “We wanted to come out and bring the energy and we did a great job of that. That translates on the court and when we win, we have so much fun with each other that we let it out.”

Colorado Springs Christian’s game with St. Mary’s served as a rematch of last season’s Class 3A state semifinal.

The Pirates held the Lions to a season-low 33 points in the contest, but St. Mary’s went scoreless in the fourth quarter which allowed CSCS to earn the 33-29 victory.

In their first matchup this season, the Pirates hoped homecourt advantage would slow the Lions.

The Pirates entered the game 5-0 at home, boasting a 95-3 record at St. Mary’s since 2014 with losses coming against Cherry Creek, Vanguard and CSCS.

The only team in the past 14 years to beat St. Mary’s at home in consecutive seasons was Trinidad, which did so in 2011 and 2012.

Lions coach Mark Engesser credited his team for the strong start and finish to the contest, which led to the accomplishment.

“They’re hard workers,” Engesser said. “They listen, they work hard and I love coaching them. They really wanted this victory and I’m so proud of them and I’ll leave it at that.”

Kinley Asp started the game with a midrange jumper and a triple to give the Lions a 5-0 lead, which they never relinquished.

The Lions ended the first quarter on a 14-2 run and their man-to-man defense held the Pirates to just 1-of-8 from the field.

CSCS’s defense remained stingy in the second and contained the Pirates to seven points while the Lions exploded for 22 in the frame and built a 36-9 lead at the break.

“Everything in basketball starts on the defensive end,” Minihane said. “The energy, the talking, even the offense. As a team we have really good defense. If someone gets beat, one of us is there to help. (St. Mary’s is) an amazing shooting team so we had to close out on their shooters. One of our goals was to hold them to season lows. We want to be the best defensive team in the state, so we wanted to shut them down.”

The Pirates entered the game averaging 62 points per game and had not scored fewer than 40 since their semifinal matchup with CSCS.

However, the Lions have allowed just 17.6 points per contest in 14 games this year and only three teams, including St. Mary’s, have scored 30 or more.

After the third, the Pirates were 6-for-33 from the field (18%) and hadn’t hit more than three shots in a quarter.

The Lions led 51-19 heading to the final period and closed the fourth on a 23-13 run to earn their 14th win in a row this year and 20th consecutive victory since last season.

“We have some big games coming up,” Engesser said. “We have Banning-Lewis and we have 6A Rangeview next week. Those are big games so we have to get back to practice and keep working.”

Rangeview handed the Lions their lone road loss in 2023 and beat CSCS 56-49 at Rangeview. While the Lions celebrated the victory against St. Mary’s, Minihane said they remain hungry for success.

“Pride comes before a fall and we won’t underestimate any team on the court,” Minihane said. “Around this time last year, we were still undefeated. We have some of our toughest games of the season coming up. (Success) starts with humility and playing together and keeping our eyes on the end goal of a championship.”