Highlands Ranch Falcons Win First 6A State Title Since 2011, Defeating Northfield 54-51

Caryn Jarocki was jumping up and down with both arms raised at the Denver Coliseum when the final buzzer sounded Saturday. Her Highlands Ranch Falcons had just held off Northfield 54-51 to claim the program's eighth Class 6A state championship and its first since 2011, ending a 15-year drought.

"It makes me want to cry," Jarocki said, watching her players embrace on the court.

The seventh-seeded Falcons finished 25-3, outpacing fifth-seeded Northfield, which ended its season at 24-4. The win was hardly clean. Northfield trailed 42-34 with less than seven minutes left but clawed back furiously, pulling within one when junior guard London Taylor hit two free throws with eight seconds remaining to make it 52-51.

On the Highlands Ranch bench, Jarocki delivered the message plainly: "Make your free throws and we win."

Freshman guard Na'ziah Newbins answered the call, knocking down two free throws to push the lead back to three. Northfield got one final chance, racing upcourt with four seconds left. Madison Bethel found Delaney Dennis wide open in the far corner, but the pass sailed wide left and out of bounds, and Highlands Ranch escaped with the title.

Sophomore guard Kimora Banks-Thomas led all scorers with 20 points and reflected on a team that had fallen short in the Great Eight a year earlier. "Last year we made it to the Great 8 and couldn't get the job done. This year, we played with a younger team and we were able to bring it home. We played hard from beginning to end. Not just today, but all season," she said. Banks-Thomas admitted the late tension was real: "I was definitely nervous. We were having trouble getting it in towards the end."

Junior Katie Moon came off the bench to score 15 points, stepping up after her twin sister Addie picked up foul trouble early in the second half. Banks-Thomas and Katie Moon combined to shoot 9-of-14 from three-point range. Sophomore Jayda Rogers anchored the interior with 12 rebounds and three blocks.

That production came from a roster built almost entirely on youth. Highlands Ranch carried only three seniors and six underclassmen, four of whom were freshmen. Northfield brought six seniors and a clear size advantage onto the floor at the Denver Coliseum. Jarocki acknowledged the matchup challenge with characteristic humor: "They are very athletic and very physical girls, and it's hard to play against them with my skinny little toothpicks."

The game tightened early before both offenses went cold. The teams combined to shoot 6-of-26 from the floor and 1-of-10 from three in the second quarter alone. Highlands Ranch led 25-18 at halftime, withstanding every Northfield mini-run. Northfield, which missed all seven of its three-point attempts in the first half, largely abandoned the deep game until the closing minutes.

Taylor led Northfield with 18 points. Dennis, who became an offensive force in the second half, finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

The Falcons' eighth title is Jarocki's eighth as well. Highlands Ranch had previously won seven championships between 2000 and 2011 before the long gap. For Northfield, Saturday marked only its second appearance in a state championship game; the Nighthawks had lost the 5A title match in 2024.

"They're a ton of fun. They're crazy. But they're fun. They're good, clean fun," Jarocki said of her players.

With Banks-Thomas, Rogers, Newbins, and the Moon twins all returning next season, the foundation Jarocki has built in Highlands Ranch shows no signs of crumbling.