THORNTON — Brihanna Crittendon has rewritten Colorado hoops history.
The Riverdale Ridge senior broke CHSAA’s all-time scoring mark on Saturday, passing Tracy Hill’s tally of 2,934 points that stood for 43 years. Crittendon scored a fast-break lay-up in the third quarter against Monarch to move beyond Hill, an ex-Ridgway star.
When Crittendon banked in the decisive shot, Hill — who drove about six hours from the Western Slope to see the consequential game — sat courtside cheering her on. Then the two embraced at midcourt during the Riverdale Ridge timeout that followed, the scoring torch passing from one great to another amid a standing ovation.
“It’s exciting, it’s amazing, and the record is not necessarily something I’ve worked for, but it’s something that has been a result of all the work I’ve put in the last four years,” Crittendon said. “It’s really meaningful to add my name to the top of the list, because I never thought this would be a possibility when I first started my high school career.”
Crittendon’s scoring feat marked the pinnacle of a prep career that’s lived up to the hype from the very start. In her high school debut on Dec. 6, 2022, the do-everything guard/forward scorched Severance for 32 points on 16 of 18 from the field.
Deric Yaussi, the Severance coach at the time who is now at Loveland, recalled pulling out all the stops to limit the phenom freshman.
None of it worked, a common theme for those who have coached against the University of Texas-bound superstar.
“Coming into the game, I heard a lot about how good she was,” Yaussi recalled. “So I put my best defender on her the entire game. We double-teamed her, we had a third defender shadow her. But she didn’t flinch. She passed out of the double-teams. She looked like a senior out there, poised and controlled.
“… To drop 32 in her first game, I knew she was going to be very special. And when we played her when she was a sophomore (and she scored 28), I laughed with my players afterwards like, ‘Hey girls, we held her under 30 points! We did it!’
Crittendon lit up Class 4A in her first two seasons, a run that culminated with the program’s first state championship in 2024. Crittendon set the state scoring record for a freshman with 811 points, then set the state scoring record for a sophomore with 809 points.
By the end of that second season, Hill was paying close attention.
“She caught my eye when she was a freshman because she was averaging over 30 points, which is hard to do no matter what classification you’re playing,” Hill said. “When you’re putting up those kinds of numbers, and you do it again as a sophomore, that’s when I started to believe she was well on her way.”
So too did Riverdale Ridge head coach Tim Jones, who earned his 100th career win in Saturday’s 76-32 victory.
“It didn’t even hit us until really last year, to be honest, when somebody brought (the potential of the record) to our attention and we looked at it closer,” Jones said. “It was like, ‘Hm, that might happen.’”
When the Ravens moved to Class 6A last season — a rare move to jump up two levels at once — Crittendon’s scoring remained steady as she lead her team to the Final Four. While Hill remains No. 1 in state history in scoring average at 32.2, Crittendon is second at 28.8, while former ThunderRidge great Abby Bartolotta (nee Waner) is third at 27.24.
Those three women, by every major statistical measure, are the most prolific scorers in Colorado history.
Hill, who went on to play Missouri, Central Wyoming and Montana State before going pro in Australia, holds the record for points in a season with 928 in 1982-83. She accomplished her scoring feats in the era where there was no 3-point line, and girls also played with a men’s ball.
“I shot 500 shots a day, I practiced with the boys,” Hill said. “This was before club basketball was really a thing, so one summer I went to live with (Bishop Machebeuf sensation) Shelly Pennefather and her family in Denver to play AAU. So much work went into that record, and I know (Crittendon) didn’t break it without the same type of work ethic.”
The baller-turned-coach who led Nucla to the 1998 Class 2A title also holds the record for most points in a half, 39, and her and Bartolotta are tied for the most points in a quarter at 26. And Bartolotta and Hill are No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the single-game scoring record after Bartolotta’s mark of 61 was topped in controversial fashion two seasons ago.
While Hill is a member of the CHSAA Hall of Fame, National High School Hall of Fame and Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, Bartolotta is also in the CHSAA Hall of Fame. She led ThunderRidge to a title three-peat and was a McDonald’s All-American as a senior in 2005. Crittendon matched that honor this season when she was selected to the game earlier this month.
Abby Waner — ThunderRidge (DENVER POST PHOTO BY JOHN LEYBA)
Bartolotta, an ex-Duke star who is one of two Colorado girls to win the national Gatorade Player of the Year honor, believes Crittendon’s record is another indication that “girls basketball here is better than it’s ever been” in a state that’s produced marquee Division I prospects in droves. As of late, that list has included 2021 WNBA Rookie of the Year Michaela Onyenwere and UCLA forward Lauren Betts, who will be a top pick in this year’s WNBA Draft.
“The field goal percentage is higher, players are better at finishing at the rim, they can shoot deeper threes,” Bartolotta observed. “So to have Bri at her rightful position at the top of the record books is poetic in a way. Because with her versatility, she can do all of those things. I’m happy for her and I hope she knows that she’s got a lifelong fan in me.”
Crittendon got to the record this season despite playing limited minutes as the Ravens throttled their way through their league. Riverdale Ridge won its 10 league games so far by an average of 73.3 points, with Crittendon usually playing less than half the minutes.
That, in addition to the junk defenses that the team 6-foot-3 baller regularly faces, is why Jones believes “the game will get easier for her” when she gets to Texas. Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer was also in attendance on Saturday for the record-breaking game, and Riverdale Ridge was ready with a banner that cheerleaders busted out the moment that Hill’s mark fell.
“The work gets harder, but the game gets easier in the sense of she’s not going to get double-team, tripled-teamed,” Jones said. “In four years, she could arguably be one of the best college basketball players in the country.
“And in eight years, outside of making a serious impact in the WNBA and possibly competing (for Team USA) on an international stage, I think her accomplishments at the next levels are going to etch an even greater legacy into the state of Colorado outside of what she’s already accomplished in the statistical realm.”
Schaefer took the Longhorns’ private plane to get to Saturday’s game, leaving after morning practice. Texas plays at Tennessee Sunday afternoon. But Schaefer knew that his trip wouldn’t be wasted after Crittendon, who will likely play a combination of shooting guard and small forward in college, scored nine points in the opening quarter.
“This is a monumental accomplishment that I didn’t want to miss,” Schaefer said. “(In college), she’ll have a chance to be an All-American and one of the premier players in the Southeastern Conference.”
Crittendon’s record-breaking feat on Saturday came despite Monarch face-guarding her all game, consistently double- and triple-teaming her, and serving her with several hard fouls. The Coyotes were without their best player, junior forward and Division I prospect Sienna Williams, due to injury. That added to the difficulty of containing Crittendon in the paint.
At one point, Monarch head coach Kincaid Bimler was so displeased with a foul call against one of the Coyotes on Crittendon that he shouted at the referee, “You’re starstruck out here!” Shortly after, Bimler got hit with a technical foul and Crittendon sank two free throws, part of a 20-point effort in the first half. She needed 24 on Saturday to pass Hill.
“I wasn’t really thinking about the number. I was just thinking about having fun playing in front of my family and a bunch of my friends on an emotional senior night,” Crittendon said. “I was embracing the moment and having fun. (In the first quarter), I was figuring out the defense they were playing and letting the game come to me.”
With two regular-season games left plus the playoffs, Crittendon is all but certain to become the first Colorado player, girl or boy, to net 3,000 points.
It may very well be an unbreakable mark in the record book, which likely has some omissions due to a lack of data from the 1970s, 80s and even the 90s. Schools/coaches must submit stats to CHSAA from those bygone eras for inclusion in the record book. Hill is one of those older players whose tallies were tracked and submitted to CHSAA.
“That support from Tracy, driving (six hours) to be at the game, that means a lot,” Crittendon said. “It’s woman supporting woman in their sport, and I’m going to remember that for a long time. If anyone (does break my record), I hope that will be me one day.”
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Kyle Newman
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