The Summit High School girls basketball team faced the Canon City Tigers in the second round of the 4A state playoffs on Friday, Feb. 25.

Summit made it to the second round of the playoffs after defeating Mitchell High School, 53-40, on Tuesday, Feb. 22.

Canon City automatically advanced to the second round after being seeded eighth in the state tournament bracket.

Canon City wasted no time proving why they were ranked so highly in the 48-team bracket as they started the game with lots of energy and speed.

The speed by Canon City led to some quick baskets to start the game. Summit tried to answer but could not get shots to fall even though they were getting good looks.

Canon City went on a run early in the game to go up 8-0 before Summit Tigers head coach Kayle Walker Burns called a timeout to stabilize her team.

Out of the timeout, Autumn Rivera finally got the scoring going for Summit as she sank a jumper from the top of the key.

The basket by Rivera seemed to wake up the Tigers a bit as they worked to slow down Canon City offensively. By the end of the first quarter, however, Canon City led 13-4.

Quick passing by Canon City in the second quarter led to more points. Canon City executed on second-chance points and partially open threes to expand upon the team’s lead.

Summit did everything they could to slow down Canon City with Paola Arredondo and Emily Koetteritz playing tough defense while Rivera worked to try to pull a run together on offense.

By the end of the game, Rivera surpassed the school’s single-season defensive rebound record and ended up a point shy of tying the single-season scoring record.

In the third quarter, Summit was held to only six points the entire quarter while Canon City continued on its scoring spree to score 21 points.

Emily Till was one of the main forces for Canon City as she found ways to score from anywhere on the court.

At the end of the third, the score was 49-17 and Canon City had firm control of the game.

Summit did not give up at any point in the game as the team attempted to run their offense and look for offensive opportunities. Summit just couldn’t find a way to get the ball to fall through the basket when Canon City closed out defensively on most offensive opportunities.

In the end, Canon City stopped the Tigers’ season and playoff run by a score of 59-24. Canon City will advance to the Sweet 16 of the playoffs to face the ninth seed, D’Evelyn.

“Canon City is super talented, had a very deep bench, had a lot of size, were athletic, had a lot of confidence,” Walker Burns said. “I do think we were a little nervous but I don’t think we ever gave up no matter what was happening.”

The Tigers end the season with the best record and the first playoff appearance the program has had in 15 years. The team will graduate three seniors, who have provided leadership to the team, at the conclusion of the school year.

“Those seniors will absolutely be missed but I think there are some sophomores that are hungry to fill their shoes,” Walker Burns said. “They were monumental for helping get us to where we are and kind of helping change the culture of our program going forward and will be greatly missed.”