No. 1 Valor Christian 54, No. 8 Chaparral 44
The defending champs are still dancing.

Valor Christian dispatched Chaparral 54-44 in Friday's Class 5A Great 8 finale at the Denver Coliseum, grinding out a win over a Wolverines team they blew out about three weeks prior. It booked the Eagles' sixth Final Four appearance, and third straight in Class 5A.

Eagles senior center and Oregon State pledge Raegan Beers headlined with a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds). Junior guard Macey Huard also had 15 points and senior guard Mariah Hilliard had 13, while Chaparral was paced by 16 points from sophomore forward Reagan Lentell.

"We know that a lot of the attention is going to go to Reagan, and we know from the last time we played them they would sag off on ball side every single time," Valor Christian coach Jessika Caldwell said. "It was hard to get her (clean looks) at the bucket, but we had some shooters on the outside to make them pay."

In the waning minutes of the third quarter Huard had a three-pointer and an and-one, a six-point swing that contributed to Valor Christian opening up a 42-35 lead heading into the fourth.

"I took my chances to drive to the rim when it was open, because they sit like three defenders on Reagan because she's a great player," Huard said. "It gave me opportunities to score I don't always have, and then when we did get it to (Beers), she stepped up big-time."

Huard, daughter of former NFL quarterback Brock Huard, also had a three-pointer that iced the game with about 90 seconds left.

"(In my mind) I was like, 'This one's going in,'" Huard said of the late three-pointer. "I was confident and I believed it, because Reagan and I practice that pass and shot in practice all the time."

Valor Christian pressed and trapped throughout the second half, while keeping Chaparral's star twin sisters Payton and Avery Bang at bay. Payton had 11 points while Avery, who dealt with foul trouble, finished with two points and did not score until 2:40 left in the game. She fouled out 20 seconds later.

"I thought we did a really good job defending (the Bangs) tonight, but we allowed some threes to go up early," Caldwell said. "It's kind of pick your poison and we picked trying to take (the Bangs) away even though their guards came to play."

The Eagles, who won consecutive Class 4A championships in 2015 and '16, are seeking their fourth title overall in their fourth year in Class 5A. The Class 5A Jeffco League champions improved to 22-3 and will take on Arapahoe in next week's Final Four.

Coach Tony Speights and Chaparral finished 18-7 in their second straight year in the Great 8. — Kyle Newman