Riverdale Ridge has been planning this for years.

In their first season in Class 6A, the Ravens advanced to next weekend’s girls basketball Final Four with a grinding 41-37 victory over Highlands Ranch in the Great 8 on Saturday at Denver Coliseum. The feat comes after blue-chip recruit Brihanna Crittendon and Riverdale Ridge won the Class 4A crown last year, the young school’s first girls team title.

“That’s been a constant conversation among 6A teams — ‘Oh, they did it in 4A,’” Riverdale Ridge coach Tim Jones said. “But the reality of it is, we’ve got some gritty kids, and I don’t think people realize our depth. They get kind of fixated on Bri.

“But we’ve been preparing for this for two years. Two years ago in the summer, we were playing Valor and Grandview, and getting ready for this moment and this run.”

The Ravens looked battle-tested against the Falcons, who are led by the state’s winningest girls coach in Caryn Jarocki.

While Crittendon led all scorers with 21 points and notched a double-double with 12 rebounds, Riverdale Ridge’s surrounding cast played well enough to offset the Falcons’ star senior tandem of Ezra Simonich (Colorado Christian commit) and Tori Baker (DU).

“We didn’t exactly execute the game plan, and we had very poor shooting at times,” said Jarocki, in her 29th year at the helm. “And what we did get, we couldn’t finish.

“… The other kids (on Riverdale Ridge) realize and recognize what their roles are — they play them and don’t try to do more than their role. They’re OK throwing (Crittendon) the ball, rebounding when she misses. They executed.”

Freshman Kimora Banks-Thomas led the Falcons with 11 points, while sophomore Addie Moon had eight. For the Ravens, point guard Chloe Parker had eight and Abby Hawkins had six.

Crittendon was a force from the opening tip, which she won. On the Ravens’ first possession, they immediately fed her in the post. Crittendon backed Simonich down, forcing her to the floor, for the easy bucket. Meanwhile, the Falcons struggled to find an offensive rhythm as Riverdale Ridge led 10-5 after one.

In the second quarter, Crittendon got into foul trouble, picking up back-to-back whistles on the same possession — first a double foul on her and Baker, then a charge. With three fouls, that sent her to the bench for the first time. Highlands Ranch, down 16-12 at that point, took advantage of the “non-Bri minutes” to tie the game 18-18 heading into half.

“I just had to stay out of my head at that point,” Crittendon said. “Refs are going to be refs, and I just had to play through it. I can’t control what they call. We’ve been down in games before, we’ve come back. The pressure is nothing for us.”

The Falcons then scored on the opening possession of the second half to take their first lead, 20-18. But the Ravens answered right back, as lobs into Crittendon in the post continued to be effective. In the final minute of the third, Katie Moon’s three swung the momentum back to Highlands Ranch via a 29-26 lead. But the Ravens responded with consecutive buckets, including a lay-up by Crittendon at the buzzer to give them a 30-29 advantage heading into the final frame.

“It was dog versus dog — that was our mentality,” Jones said of his message in the huddle before the fourth. “Come out and chew somebody’s face off, and hopefully they do the same to make it an intense environment. It’s a familiar intensity for us. I asked them to give me eight good minutes, and I knew we would be okay.”

That’s when the final momentum shift occurred, as the Falcons took almost five minutes to score in the fourth while Riverdale Ridge (21-5) opened up a game-high eight-point lead. The Falcons (22-4) went on an 8-2 run, cutting the deficit to 39-37 with 40 seconds left but couldn’t score again, and Crittendon sank two free throws to ice it.

“We brought the energy on defense in that fourth quarter,” Chloe Parker said.

Now in the Final Four, the Ravens’ coach and star player emphasized the job’s not done. “We want to go get us another (title), and I believe we will,” Jones said. Riverdale Ridge plays No. 7 Legend, which knocked off defending champion Valor Christian.

“It might surprise some other people — our 14 seed is something crazy — but we’re going to shock the whole world,” Crittendon said.