THORNTON — Colorado’s best is headed to Texas.
Riverdale Ridge senior Brihanna Crittendon committed to the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday in a ceremony in her high school gym. The five-star recruit chose the Longhorns over CU, her other finalist, as well as her other top choices in Tennessee, Washington, Oregon and TCU.
“It was a really hard decision,” Crittendon said. “All of my final schools were amazing, and they were all great fits for me. With Texas, it came down to their culture, their winning attitude and the girls that I’ll be playing with there.”
Crittendon, the state of Colorado’s top girls basketball prospect who is ranked as the No. 8 player in the Class of 2026 by ESPN, has averaged 24.0 points per game over her first three high school seasons.
“For the last three-and-a-half years coaching her, we’ve had the opportunity to watch a generational player step into a space and do things no one else has done,” Riverdale Ridge head coach Tim Jones said. “In a state with great girls’ basketball talent, she’s changed the landscape of what Colorado basketball has looked like.”
The Riverdale Ridge star led the Ravens to the Class 4A title as a sophomore in 2024, then after the program jumped up two classes, she was the headliner on a Class 6A Final Four team in 2025. She is a versatile 6-foot-3 combo guard/forward who can play any position on the floor for Riverdale Ridge, though she likely profiles as a shooting guard or small forward at the next level.
Crittendon chose Texas amid 47 total Division I offers. Over the last couple of months, Crittendon took official visits to Tennessee, TCU, CU, Oregon, and Texas. The Buffs’ miss on Crittendon means CU head coach JR Payne is still seeking a five-star recruit, which she’s never had in her decade-long tenure in Boulder.
The 18-year-old Crittendon said the opportunity to chase an NCAA national championship played a role in her decision to head to Austin. As for NIL opportunities, Crittendon expects she will be able to capitalize on them at well-funded Texas, but stressed, “The money was never a determining factor for me.”
In 44 years of the Texas women’s basketball program, the Longhorns have made 37 NCAA tournament appearances. That includes four Final Fours, most recently last season, as well as one national championship in 1986.
“Texas has All-Americans, five-stars — everyone there is great and they all want the same thing,” Crittendon said. “I wanted to surround myself with people who have the same goals as me so I can grow as a person and a player.”
Selected as the 2024 Ms. Colorado Basketball by The Denver Post, Crittendon is on pace to break the state’s scoring record for all-time girls and boys players. That mark of 2,934 points was set by Ridgway’s Tracy Hill from 1980-83. Crittendon enters her senior season with 2,333 points, 602 points shy of breaking the record. She has scored at least 713 points in each of her three seasons so far.
“I’m not even thinking about the points record,” Crittendon said. “I just want to get back (to the Denver Coliseum) and win a championship at the 6A level. That’s our goal this year.”
Riverdale Ridge opens its season against Fossil Ridge on Dec. 4. Crittendon & Co. will face some of the top teams in Colorado this season in Grandview, Mullen, Legend and Cherry Creek, while the Ravens also have out-of-state games scheduled against a pair of California teams in Ontario Christian and Sierra Canyon as part of the Hoopfest in Paradise in Nassau, Bahamas, on Dec. 19 and 20.