SECURITY – The Basalt girls basketball team came within a couple of free throws of playing for the Class 3A State Championship, but will have to be happy with fourth place.

The fifth seed Longhorns fell just short of upsetting top-seed Bishop Machebeuf Friday night in the state tournament semifinal, losing 41-40. On Saturday Basalt lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, dropping a 66-60 decision to No. 14-seed La Junta in the third-place game.

The fourth-place finish was an improvement for the Longhorns, who won the consolation championship for fifth place last year.

On Friday, Ashley Hutchison’s free throw with less than a minute left lifted Machebeuf to the victory over Basalt semifinal.

Hutchison finished with six points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Julie Feldhake led Machebeuf with 15 points.

The Longhorns led by two points late in the second quarter before Brianna Goodfellow gave Machebeuf a 20-18 halftime advantage with a 3-point shot at the buzzer.

Machebeuf (25-1) parlayed its momentum into a 15-1 run to open the third period that gave the Buffaloes a 35-21 lead. But Basalt (22-5) battled back with a 19-2 run of its own and took a 40-37 lead on a 3-pointer by Lauren Redfern with less than five minutes to play.

It was the final point of the game for the Longhorns, however.

Another 3-pointer by Goodfellow tied it at 40-40 with 2:40 to play. She finished with nine points.

Basalt’s Mariah Mulcahy had a chance to tie the game or possibly give her team the lead in the final seconds, but she missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Autumn Caughern led Basalt with 18 points, while Redfern finished with 12.

Machebeuf played Roosevelt for the state championship late Saturday night.

In Saturday’s third-place game, the Longhorns fell behind 15-9 by the end of the first quarter and never fully recovered.

Three Tigers scored 16 points or more, with Kerry Lewis leading the way at 23 points.

Basalt cut the La Junta lead to 29-25 by halftime, but the Tigers outscored the Longhorns by a point in the two final quarters.

Mulcahy had another solid game with 21 points, including three treys. Caughern was also sharp from outside, with four 3-pointers and 14 points and Redfern tallied 15.

Saturday’s third-place game – La Junta 66, Basalt 60

Basalt 9 16 19 16-60

La Junta 15 14 20 17-66

BASALT – Ashley Eaton 2 0-0 4, Brittany Pollock 1 0-0 2, Autumn Caughern 5 0-0 14, Deanna Spracher 1 0-0 2, Mariah Mulcahy 7 4-4 21, Rochelle Moebius 0 2-3 2, Lauren Redfern 6 3-6 15. Totals 22 9-13 60.

LA JUNTA – Pearson 1 0-0 3, Kr. Lewis 0 1-3 1, Ko. Lewis 1 0-0 3, Stokes 7 2-4 16, Ke. Lewis 9 2-2 23, Pimentel 8 4-5 20. Totals 26 9-15 66.

3-pointers – Caughern 4, Mulcahy 3; Pearson, Ko. Lewis, Ke. Lewis 3. Fouled out – not available. Technicals – not available.

Friday’s semifinal – Machebeuf 41, Basalt 40

Basalt 9 9 15 7-40

Machebeuf 8 12 15 6-41

BASALT – Allison Brummet 0 0-0 0, Autumn Caughern 7 1-2 18, Ashley Eaton 0 0-0 0, Makenzie Holmes 0 0-0 0, Rochelle Moebius 0 2-4 2, Mariah Mulcahy 3 1-3 8, Brittany Pollock 0 0-0 0, Lauren Redfern 4 3-4 12, Amanda Schmidt 0 0-0 0, Deanna Spracher 0 0-0 0, March Thompson 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 7-3 40.

MACHEBEUF – Allison Bihr 0 0-0 0, Meghan Driver 0 0-0 0, Julie Feldhake 5 4-4 15, Tina George 0 0-0 0, Trina Gibbons 1 0-0 2, Goodfellow 3 0-0 9, Hutchison 1 4-7 6, Issaeff 4 1-4 9, Lisa McNeely 0 0-0 0, Mickey Oilar 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 9-15 41.