{"id":126333,"date":"2026-02-28T23:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/126333\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T23:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:00:19","slug":"erie-girls-basketball-beat-rock-canyon-in-the-6a-state-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/126333\/","title":{"rendered":"Erie girls basketball beat Rock Canyon in the 6A state tournament."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ERIE \u2014 In any basketball tournament setting, whether it be the Class 6A Colorado state girls tournament or March Madness, all bets are off once the postseason begins. Seeds are just suggestions.<\/p>\n<p>See No. 16 UMBC vs. No. 1 Virginia men\u2019s college basketball in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>But on Saturday, it was clear from the start who was the superior team in the No. 10 Erie girls\u2019 53-30 win over visiting No. 23 Rock Canyon in their second-round state tournament game.<\/p>\n<p>A trio of 3-pointers from the Tigers in the first three minutes foreshadowed the detriment of the Jaguars. They built that early lead up to as much as 27\u00a0 points midway through the fourth quarter before head coach Tyler Cerveny subbed out all the starters.<\/p>\n<p>The Tigers hadn\u2019t won a playoff game since 2021, and the current group of seniors \u2014 Juliet Slater, Reagyn Allen, Tegan Cerveny and Natalie Fetters \u2014 went 11-12 when they were freshmen. That was Tyler Cerveny\u2019s first year at the helm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur four seniors, they deserve the credit, not me,\u201d he said. \u201cI tell them all the time this was a \u201cwe,\u201d not the head coach or a thing like that. Those four girls completely bought in and just changed the program. The girls really bought into playing hard, tough plays, winning 50-50 balls. Once that flipped, they started winning games.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Erie\u2019s Juliet Slater takes a layup with pressure from Rock...\" class=\"size-article_inline\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-03-1.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Erie\u2019s Juliet Slater takes a layup with pressure from Rock Canyon\u2019s Mallori Spielmann during the Tigers\u2019 home Class 6A state tournament game against Rock Canyon on Feb. 28, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Erie\u2019s Sophie Tusk takes a layup during the Tigers\u2019 home...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-05.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-05.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Erie\u2019s Sophie Tusk takes a layup during the Tigers\u2019 home Class 6A state tournament game against Rock Canyon on Feb. 28, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Erie\u2019s Sophie Husk (13) hands the ball off to Juliet...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-06.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-06.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Erie\u2019s Sophie Husk (13) hands the ball off to Juliet Slate (10) during the Tigers\u2019 home Class 6A state tournament game against Rock Canyon on Feb. 28, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Erie\u2019s Juliet Slater looks for a path to the basket...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-01.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-01.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Erie\u2019s Juliet Slater looks for a path to the basket around Rock Canyon\u2019s Anna Spielmann during the Tigers\u2019 home Class 6A state tournament game against Rock Canyon on Feb. 28, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Erie\u2019s Addison Greenlee passes the ball during the Tigers\u2019 home...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-04.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-04.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Erie\u2019s Addison Greenlee passes the ball during the Tigers\u2019 home Class 6A state tournament game against Rock Canyon on Feb. 28, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Erie\u2019s Reagyn Allen gets tangled up with Rock Canyon\u2019s Emerson...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-02.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DCC-L-ErieGBB-2-28-02.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Erie\u2019s Reagyn Allen gets tangled up with Rock Canyon\u2019s Emerson McDonald during the Tigers\u2019 home Class 6A state tournament game against Rock Canyon on Feb. 28, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)\n<\/p>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 6<\/p>\n<p>Erie\u2019s Juliet Slater takes a layup with pressure from Rock Canyon\u2019s Mallori Spielmann during the Tigers\u2019 home Class 6A state tournament game against Rock Canyon on Feb. 28, 2026. (Alissa Noe\/BoCoPreps.com)\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey guard hard. They\u2019re coachable and they\u2019re extremely smart. If you knew the intricate defensive schemes we do some games, they\u2019re just so sharp. It makes it easy for me. They just know how to play off each other on that end of the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moments like that haunted the Jaguars all afternoon, whether it was an aggressive Tegan Cerveny rebound, an Addison Greenlee steal or a flawless triple from Sophie Husk. Husk led Erie with 17 points, and Slater was right behind with 16.<\/p>\n<p>Slater said she doesn\u2019t even recognize that 11-12 team of old. The Tigers have now put together six straight winning seasons and currently sit at 20-4.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur first year, we had a losing record, but we knew we just kept building on it,\u201d Slater said. \u201cEveryone on our team works hard, everyone\u2019s gotten better, and we now have four whole teams, which is amazing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe lost to Rock Canyon in playoffs (49-30) my sophomore year. We just did not stand a chance, and now we just came in strong against them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The biggest difference, she said, has been the sense of togetherness that Coach Cerveny has preached since Day 1. Slater said that the girls believe that if they play for each other, they can beat anyone.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ll get to test that theory, likely on the road at No. 7 Highlands Ranch, for the Sweet 16 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know this,\u201d Tyler Cerveny said. \u201cI feel like this is, with the 6A schedule, the best Erie team in history up to this point, what these girls have accomplished. I\u2019m really proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycamera.com\/prep-sports-all-sports-teams\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">View a list of Prep sports and high school teams we cover.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ERIE \u2014 In any basketball tournament setting, whether it be the Class 6A Colorado state girls tournament or&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1675,1676,136,138,137,7806,1677,305,241,45445,59016,726],"class_list":["post-126333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-boulder-county","tag-colorado","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-erie-tigers","tag-front-range","tag-high-school-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-preps-girls-basketball","tag-preps-winter-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}