Pointing over to the main gym doors at Mead High School, girls basketball coach Mike Ward grins wide as he tells you it’s the spot where his players leave their ego.

An amusing illustration.

Not that it makes the sentiment any less true.

Meanwhile, miles away, Mavericks senior starters Darby Haley and Caroline Kron are headed to another gym to put in more work. Every week, they team up with hoops guru Jeff Schmidt: a longtime coach in California, now based in northern Colorado. He helps them develop their skills, including their jump shot and finish at the rim.

By mid-March, the Mavericks are hoping that this team-always mentality and heavy workload are the right ingredients to net the program’s first state championship.

They’ve been close. Achingly so of late. In the past three seasons, they’ve reached the state semifinals twice and quarters once.

“I feel like we just have a little more focus this year,” Haley said. “From day one, we knew our goal was to make the state playoffs and obviously win it all. We’re all focused on that goal and are pushing each other every day.”

The results have been good.

The Mavericks are currently 14-2 and are ranked second in CHSAA’s latest Class 5A rankings.

They’ve done it their way: widespread production without any statistical standouts.

“To be successful, we got to share the ball,” Ward said. “And we celebrate other people’s successes. Like, ‘I’m glad you went for 20. I’m glad you had 18 tonight.’ It’s OK to celebrate other people’s successes — because you know what? That will come back to you.”

Ahead of Friday’s win over Niwot, sophomore Madi Clark led four players in double-digit scoring, averaging 13.6 points per game. Haley was next at 11.3, followed by Taylor Gordon and Elena Gomez at 10, then Kron at 7.8.

All four players’ rebounds, assists, steals and blocks were fairly similar as well.

“We thrive on that balance,” Ward continued. “On any given night, we can have a girl go for 20. Whether it’s Darby, or it’s (Kron), or it’s Elena, or Madi Clark. But we’re a better team if we can get 13 points here, 12 here, 11 here, 10 here. Now, teams don’t know who to focus on.”

Which brings us to the burning question. In today’s game, can a team without any statistical stars beat out the ones who do?

In Colorado, for instance, the girls’ basketball talent has never been deeper.

From the headliners: Grandview’s Sienna Betts is ESPN’s second best 2025 prospect and is headed to UCLA. Peak to Peak’s Alexandra Eschmeyer, inked with Stanford, is 31st. And Riverdale Ridge’s Brihanna Crittendon is 10th among the country’s 2026s. Betts and Crittendon have won state titles.To the statistical wonders: Mountain Vista’s Kennedy Spellman leads the state at 29.2 PPG. Both Legacy’s Olivia Mortensen (24.7 PPG, 13.9 rebounds, 4.8 steals) and Monarch sophomore Sienna Williams (18.8 PPG, 16.7 RPG, 5.2 blocks) are averaging monster double-doubles.

The Mavericks are neither a headliner or a statistical exclamation. And they’ll tell you they don’t care.

So far this winter, they’ve handled star-studded teams — beating the likes of Mountain Vista, Legacy and Monarch.

It starts with a stingy defense.

On Dec. 7, they held Spellman to a season-low 12 points in a 16-point win. A month after that, they outdueled Mortensen to beat the Lightning by three. Though Mortensen had 33 points in that game, they limited her on the glass, where she finished with a season-low eight boards.

In their past four games, their opponent has failed to score 30 points. That included a 59-24 win over Monarch last week, when, even without a 6-footer on roster — Kron seems to be the tallest girl on the team at 5-foot-10 — they held the 6-3 Williams to her worst shooting night of the season. Williams finished with eight points, though she did grab 16 boards.

“We almost have a dog mentality on defense,” Kron said.

“We’re just scrappy, and we can get after it. And I know I can go after it because I know my teammates will have my help-side.”

The Mavericks are sitting atop the newly formed Granite Peaks League at 6-0. Broomfield — led in part by 6-foot-4 freshman Reece Gilpatrick, who was recently offered by CU — is right there, too, at 5-0. They’ll meet up on Feb. 18.

Mead’s next game is at Horizon on Tuesday.