Ignacio pair earn career All-State – The Durango Herald

Brunson, Reynolds hoop in CCGS display

Ignacio’s Laci Brunson, right, jokes with Harmony Reynolds during halftime of the 2023 Colorado Girls Sports Coaches Class 3A Basketball Games Sunday at Grandview High School in Aurora. The two Bobcats played together on Blue’s roster. (Special to Joel Priest/Herald)

AURORA — Watching Woodland Park senior Isabella Slocum dominate in the second quarter of the 2023 Colorado Coaches of Girls’ Sports of State Class 3A game could have been straight out of a basketball player’s nightmare.

Especially Harmony Reynolds or Laci Brunson.

The Ignacio seniors faced off a little over two weeks ago in the 3A-Region VI semifinals at Kersey after Platte Valley, led by seniors Andi Schissler and Bree Bunting, downed Rocky Ford by 44 points.

PVHS’ strong duo was also pitted against powerhouse WPHS against IHS’s talented tandem on Sunday at Grandview High School Gymnasium. Schissler sank two 3-pointers, Bunting had a double and Colorado Springs-based Fountain Valley’s Grace Stansbury drained a trey as the “Red” raced to an 11-0 lead at 3:03 of the opening quarter and scored . The blue held on for the rest, leading 75-54.

Ignacio’s Harmony Reynolds grabs a rebound between Strasburg’s Autumn Stone, left, and Colorado Springs Fountain Valley’s Grace Stansbury during Class 3A action at the 2023 Colorado Coaches of Girls’ Sports All-State Basketball Games Sunday in Grandview HS Reynolds scores six points for Blue Blue for the team Losing to the Red 75-54. (Special to Joel Priest/Herald)

“Coming out of (high school basketball) with Harmony felt like a dream, because whether we were winning or losing, we were having fun together,” said Brunson, who drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing in the third quarter and added a fourth-quarter deuce for his five points. . “It was an honor… It means a lot that I got ‘All-State’ in basketball.”

“Playing with everyone who has the same talent, it was fun to watch everyone,” Reynolds said. “I mean, I’ve never seen those girls before but they were pretty good.”

The Blue trailed the Red 18-10 after the first quarter, thanks to two 3-pointers by Hailey Blanchard (Colorado Springs The Vanguard School). The Blues would have been in a better position to fight back at halftime, but Slocum scored four baskets and it was 35-25 at the break.

During the half-game timeout, Blue coach Anthony Wilson (Brush HS) assigned Reynolds to shadow Slocum … and he held off two close-range buckets.

Fortunately for the Reds, shooters Amaya Garcia – of Ignacio’s Intermountain League rival Centauri, no less – and Payton Carver (Hotchkiss North Fork)’s two three-pointers and 10 third-quarter total points offset Ellicott perimeter threat Alyssa Lagasse’s two treys and eight points for the Blue. same stanza

Garcia sent the contest into its final frame with a three-pointer to keep Red ahead, 55-42. Carver eventually combined with NFHS teammate Delilah Vasquez to record 10 of the final 20 points for the victors. Slocum converted a three-point play down the stretch and scored 15 points, matching Blanchard’s tally. Schissler and Carver each had 12. Bunting and Vasquez finished with 10 points, Stansbury had seven, Garcia five and Strasburg’s Autumn Stone four.

Mirroring Blanchard’s three-pointer defeat, Lagasse scored 11 points. FVHS’s Ava Warner, against her teammate Stansbury, finished with eight. Brush’s Kashlynn Tadolini scored four, Fort Collins Liberty Common’s Ruby Richardson scored three and Estes Park’s Bree Wilkerson scored two.

Reynolds ended up scoring six points, making his final hoop ahead of his pursuers and on a long outlet pass from Brunson for an easy transition — a play seen frequently during the pair’s decorated days at IHS.

“Honestly, I had a lot of fun,” Reynolds said. “I mean, he’s my best friend, so I don’t think I could do it without him; we do everything together.”

And that includes receiving the news that originally named the CCGS All-Staters.

“It’s a goal I’ve wanted to accomplish for a long time,” Brunson said. “I found out I had been selected, and then the (CCGS) lady called and told us that Harmony had been selected: we were sitting in our cars and Harmony screamed! Then I started screaming! We were both so excited we made it; we couldn’t imagine it any other way.”

“And it was a fun experience playing with girls who knew basketball like we did.”

Guarded by Centauri’s Amaya Garcia, Ignacio’s Laci Brunson surveys the scene on offense during the Class 3A 2023 Colorado Girls Sports Coaches All-State Basketball Games Sunday in Aurora. Brunson scored five points in the Blue’s 75-54 loss to the Red. (Special to Joel Priest/Herald)