Douglas caps dominant four-year run with third straight state title
DOUGLAS, Wyo. (BVM) — There’s a good possibility that the Douglas High School girls basketball program would have celebrated its fourth consecutive Class 3A state championship last month if the Covid-19 pandemic hadn’t arrived in March 2020. But settling for back-to-back-to-back state titles isn’t so bad.
A year after seeing their state tournament run end abruptly, the Bearcats made the most of their chance to be back on the court for the 2020-21 season and dominated the competition on an unbeaten run to their third straight state title.
“I think there was some uncertainty even at the beginning of the school year of whether or not we’d be able to finish out our season and how normal it would look and if games would be canceled and all those things,” Douglas head coach Cody Helenbolt said. “We were pretty fortunate to be able to play our whole season and to be able to go undefeated on top of that was kind of icing on the cake.”
Led by reigning Gatorade Wyoming Girls Basketball Player of the Year Allyson Fertig, Douglas went 24-0 to cap off a remarkable four-year run during which the Bearcats lost only two games. Douglas was on a 16-game winning streak and appeared primed to claim its third straight title last year when it reached the state tournament quarterfinals before the Covid-19 outbreak forced the Wyoming High School Activities Association to cancel the remainder of the tourney.
“It was just awesome to see the kids be able to finish it out especially after last year being such a disappointment for them not being able to finish out their last three games of their season,” Helenbolt said. “It was just really rewarding and fun to see a bunch of kids who did everything the right way to be able to get that ultimate reward.”
While it was another banner season as would be expected for Fertig, who averaged 22.7 points, 13.2 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 2.3 steals, the University of Wyoming commit was just one of four All-State performers who helped make the Bearcats unbeatable this past season. Seniors Joslin Igo (11.6 points per game, 8.0 assists per game and 3.5 steals per game) and Kamdynn Townsend (12.9 ppg) and junior Allison Olsen (11.5 ppg) all played big roles as well for Douglas.
“This year we saw a lot of game plans specifically focused on Allyson and it was actually OK because it forced our other kids to step up,” Helenbolt said. “We have three other All-State players and really what allowed that to happen is teams trying to take away Allyson and then realizing we can take her away but we can’t stop the other ones. …. It’s nice to have that team dynamic for everybody involved not feel like you have to have one player take on so much of the load.”
No matter who was stepping up in a given game or at a given point in a game, there seemed to be no stopping the Bearcats, who outscored their 24 opponents by an average of 40 points on their way to capturing a third straight title.
“It was really fun,” Helenbolt said. “The kids put in a lot of hard work so I felt like they deserved to have that successful season so I was happy for them.”
