FREDERICK — Megan Majeres talked all summer long about breaking Frederick girls basketball’s single-game 3-point record, which stood at an attainable but still impressive eight starting the 2021-22 season.
On Tuesday night, en route to a 52-14 decision over 42nd-seeded Weld Central, the junior shooting guard nearly achieved that goal as her seven 3s propelled the No. 23 seed Warriors to victory in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.
“It’s just teamwork and passing the ball. My team really had my back,” Majeres said. “It feels good because it’s our first playoff win since I’ve been here and just to see how the team has grown since I’ve been here, it’s been really cool. We’ve been passing the ball a lot, looking inside. The bench has been cheering us on.”
Majeres’ 21 points behind the arc led all of the other shooters, but senior Ali Davis wasn’t far behind with 18 — 12 of which she scored at the foul line. Frederick scored just eight points off of two-point buckets while draining nine total 3-pointers and 17 free throws.
That type of production, though a bit odd in the grand scheme of hoops, was a culmination of everything the Warriors have been working towards all season long.
“They’re a lot more unselfish,” head coach Jake Hansen said. “They’re playing a lot better as a team. We have a lot of good individual players but getting them to play together has been kind of our focus this year and they’ve started to do that a lot better.”
The Warriors and Rebels took a few minutes to break off the ice that they undoubtedly brought in from the outside cold at the start of the game. Neither team was able to score a field goal until about three and a half minutes were left in the first quarter. After that, however, Frederick went off from long range.
Majeres hit three consecutive 3s to ignite her team’s offense and from there on out, they couldn’t be extinguished. The Warriors led 31-10 at the half after learning to adjust in real-time, further showing the growth they’ve made since day one.
They backed up their strong scoring efforts with solid rebounding, ball movement and defense to disrupt the Rebels all night long.
“Weld Central threw out a 1-3-1 (zone defense) against us and we haven’t seen one yet this year,” Hansen said. “It’s a little bit of an adjustment. I think we were a little timid early. Nobody really wanted to attack, we kind of settled for some shots when we could have been a little more patient, but it’s nice to see once Megan starts knocking down some 3s, everyone’s trying to get her the ball.”
Now, the Warriors will have to turn their sights toward a tough road game at No. 10 Grand Junction Central for the second round of the playoffs on Friday.
