State 5A girls basketball: It's Ponderosa @ Prairie View

GREENWOOD VILLAGE  – Selection Sunday saw the Lady ThunderHawks of Prairie View earn a No. 8 seed in the Class 5A girls state basketball tournament.

                  The team will have the honor to host the first round playoff game against No. 9 Ponderosa at 7 p.m., Wednesday. Prairie View had a chance to improve on its seed placement, but a loss to Rangeview to decide the Eastern Metro Athletic Conference championship Feb. 16 was enough to drop the ThunderHawks to eighth.

                  “I think it was a great seeding for us,” head coach Rachel Jensen said. “Our conference is seen as being a weaker conference due to our schedule. But we are pleased with where we landed. The girls are ready.”

                  Rangeview earned a  fourth seed and a first-round bye, similar to what Prairie View earned last season as league champions. Other EMAC teams that made it to the playoffs were Westminster, Brighton and Thornton.

                  After losing the chance to win the league championship for the second straight season, the girls bounced back in a big way with a 51-40 victory over Fort Lupton to close out the regular season. The game did not have much value other than that Jordan Wilson became the first player in program history to score 1,000 points. Wilson needed 18 points to accomplish the feat, and she scored 23 in the victory.

                  “Amazing,” Jensen said of her junior. “It is even more amazing that she did it in three years. She is a phenomenal athlete who works hard. What is even more impressive is that even being scouted and double teamed, she still finds a way to score. She deserves it, and it was good it happened at home where she could be recognized.”

                  The Lady ThunderHawks will look to do better than they did in the playoffs a season ago. After having a first-round bye, they were upset in the second round on their home floor. The Ponderosa Mustangs are 7-16 overall and are limping into the playoffs, losers in 10 of their last 11 games.  Prairie View, on the other hand, is a winner in six of its last seven.

Contact Anthony Arroyo at sports@metrowestnewspapers.com.