DENVER >> Opening weekend of the Class 4A postseason had all the drama of a bowl of quinoa for Holy Family’s girls basketball team, which pummeled its first- and second-round opponents from the outset, outscoring them a combined 39-0 in the first quarter.

Wednesday’s quarterfinal wasn’t that. Still plenty impressive, though.

The fourth-seeded Tigers, in a season with so much newness for them — including a first-year coach who took over for the legendary Ron Rossi and a roster largely rewritten from last winter — are back in familiar territory after beating No. 5 Alamosa, 58-39, early in the morning at the Denver Coliseum.

On Friday, they’ll face the winner of No. 1 University and No. 9 D’Evelyn in their sixth semifinals appearance over the past seven seasons.

Another win would put them in the championship game for a third year in a row. They beat D’Evelyn in the 2023 finals and were runner-up to Riverdale Ridge in ‘24.

“For us, tradition doesn’t graduate,” said coach Mike Quintana, who took over after Rossi called it a career after 21 years and seven state titles with the program. “Coach Rossi has let us run with this and carry the torch for him, and we do our best not only to make him proud, but our Holy Family community proud.”

It’s been one heck of a start to their 2025 postseason.

Over the weekend, the Tigers had no trouble in 30-plus-point wins over No. 29 Coal Ridge and No. 20 DSST: Cedar.

Leading scorer Gracie Ward had nine 3-pointers across the two games and went 7 of 10 from deep in a mesmerizing 24-point, Round 2 performance.

Their quarterfinals win wasn’t quite as assured, but it was more than convincing.

The Mean Moose stuck around for a bit after halftime, shaving Holy Family’s lead to just three, at 28-25, on Morgan Ortega’s 3 in the first minute of the third quarter.

The Tigers’ response was emphatic.

Priya Lucas and Alexcia Oaxaca drained 3-pointers to close out a 10-2 run to put them up double digits later in the third. Enyiah Contreraz hit from deep in back-to-back possessions early in the fourth, part of a 10-0 spurt that put things away.

Oaxaca scored eight straight points for Holy Family (17-8) in the second half and finished with 12.

Contreraz had her most points in a game in a month, scoring 11 on the back of a trio of 3s. Alyssa Quintana and Alicia Barajas each had 10, while Ward — coming in averaging 14.4 points per game this winter — played more of a secondary scoring role against Alamosa (19-7), tallying all seven of her points over the first 6:32 of regulation.

“Going through the hardships together — I mean, yes, we didn’t have the best record this year. But the league we were in definitely challenged us and those losses brought us closer together,” Ward said afterward. “In the end, we’re going to just stick together. We always have each others’ back.”