Broncos bust up Geneva’s state title hopes

Bay Area Christian used a strong second half to pull away from the Geneva School of Boerne girls basketball team during Thursday’s TAPPS 4A state semifinals game.

The Broncos held a 27-22 advantage at halftime, but outscored the Lady Eagles in the second half, 33-19, and went on to record the 60-41 victory on Leap Day in Waco.

Geneva finishes its 2023-24 season at 28-5 overall and returns to Boerne with bronze medals.

Thursday’s contest was tied 10-10 at the end of the first quarter. From there, the Eagles jumped out to four-point lead twice in the second quarter, the last on a Kyra Petty free throw at 18-14 with 3:39 remaining before halftime, but that’s when BAC took over.

The Broncos scored the next 9 points to gain a lead they never surrendered. BAC’s run ended up being 13-4 to end the quarter and gave them a 27-22 advantage at halftime.

Geneva’s Maegan Riebel hit the first bucket of the third to make it 27-24 but that’s as close as the Eagles would get. The Broncos ended up winning the quarter, 18-7.

BAC even hit the rare 4-point play with a 3-pointer and a foul. Riebel was trying to rally the team and scored all 7 of Geneva’s points in the third quarter.

The Broncos slowed it down a little in the final stanza to protect the lead and the teams basically traded buckets. A 6-0 spurt by BAC helped them open up their largest lead of the game at 21 points before Hailey Kirchner ended the run with a 2-pointer with 40 seconds left.

The Kirchner basket ended up being the final points of the quarter, the game and the season for Geneva.

Riebel finished with 16 points, Petty netted 10, Bethany DeLuna scored 7, Madeline Egbert added 4, while Grace Detterick and Kirchner both chipped in with 2.

BAC had four players finish in double figures with 13, 11, 10 and 10.

Geneva boys

The Eagles lost in the regional finals last weekend to No. 1 ranked St. Thomas Episcopal, 76-56, to end their season at 24-8.

Griffin Freiling finished with 20 points, Colton Lutz and Jack Taylor both dropped in 11, Wyatt Bruss scored 9 and Caleb Quitadamo scored 5 to round out the Geneva scoring.