Glenwood Springs punched its Sweet 16 ticket with a 52-40 win over Valor Christian in the second round of the Class 4A girls basketball playoffs on Friday.

The Demons improved to 20-4 overall with the win. They’ll face Air Academy, the host of the four-team Sweet 16 tournament, today at 1 p.m.

Kenzie Nelson-Buehler’s 19 points led the way for Glenwood, which pulled away in the second half after leading 21-18 at intermission.

“We didn’t really change anything,” Demons coach Bryan Derby said. “We just played really well tonight. We came out and our defense really stepped it up. We tried to limit them to one shot and, overall, it was one shot and that was it.”

Cassidy Gaddis finished with 10 points for Glenwood, which got seven from Delaney Gaddis and five apiece from Connor Adams and Sarah Davis.

Air Academy (22-2) defeated Green Mountain, 53-25, prior to the Demons’ showdown with Valor.

Derby, who was consumed with the task at hand – preparing for Valor Christian – didn’t do much scouting.

“I was focused on getting through Valor, so I didn’t really pay much attention,” the veteran coach said. “They’re a tough ballclub. We’ll really have to rebound tomorrow. If we do that, we’ll have a good chance of coming out of there with a victory.”

Valor finished its season with a 19-5 record.