- The Lakewood Lady Tigers are so good they are lapping teams.

No. 2 Lakewood looked like a juggernaut in their 62-31 win over No. 7 Doherty in the second round of the state tournament Friday at Lakewood High School.

After sitting out the first round with a well-deserved bye the Tigers showed no rust on Friday night jumping out to a 30-12 lead.

Doherty managed to slow down sophomore-sensation Mackenzie Forrest holding her to just four points.

But it didn’t matter because Lakewood’s senior leader Jessica Brooks wasn’t going to be denied.

Brooks led the Tigers with 18 points and she controlled the glass with her 10 rebounds.

In addition, senior Gabby Carbone had 11 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Doherty made one last desperation run that cut Lakewood’s lead down to 14 points in the third quarter. But the Tigers then buried Doherty with a 12-0 run.

Lakewood (23-1, 16-0 in 5A Jeffco) looked every bit of the team that has made them one of the favorites to go to the Final Four this season — and maybe further.

But the Tigers will now have to face No. 3 Highlands Ranch who is also coming off a bye and a big 91-53 victory over Cherokee Trail.

The Falcons (20-4, 8-3 in league play) are also looked at as one of the state’s elite teams.

Highland Ranch has three different players that can beat you with big offense outputs. Ciera Morgan (17.5 points per game), Logan Ophiem (12.1 ppg) and Symone Starks (10.3 ppg) are all double-digit scorers nightly.

Lakewood will have to do a good job of limiting at least two of those three players from having big scoring nights. The Falcons have won five games in a row by 72 points of more and have scored in the 90’s in two of those games.

If the Tigers defeat Highlands Ranch they will face the winner of Regis Jesuit and Ralston Valley.