No. 9 D’Evelyn girls hoops sharp after holiday break

GOLDEN — There was no rust on D’Evelyn’s girls basketball team Tuesday night at Golden High School.

The Jaguars — No. 9 in the CHSAANow.com Class 4A girls basketball rankings — completely dominated 4A Jeffco League rival Golden in the first game back from the holiday break. D’Evelyn took a 68-12 conference victory.

“Holy cow! We were just all over the place to start the game,” D’Evelyn coach Chris Olson said after the 56-point victory that featured the Jaguars jumping out to a 36-0 lead. “You never know the first game after break what it is going to look like. We have been talking a lot about the mental approach.”

D’Evelyn (8-1, 2-0 in league) nearly shutout Golden (3-5, 0-1) in the first half. Golden junior Sage Manning got the Demons on the scoreboard with just more than a minute left in the second quarter to end a 36-0 run to start the game.

“We just ran our zone stuff and people hit shots,” Olson said of D’Evelyn scoring 39 points in the first half to Golden’s 4 points. “That is what happens when you have a lot of good players around that can do things.”

D’Evelyn sophomore Peyton Marvel led all scorers with 17 points. Marvel buried a 3-pointer to end the first half. She did most of her damage in the second quarter making a trio of 3-pointers.

“We started strong and started on top,” Marvel said. “Our defense was really strong and our offense just carried through.”

The Jaguars finished with four players in double-digit points. Marvel and junior Rebecca Taylor (12 points), along with seniors Mikky Smith (14 points) and Maddie Topping (10 points) led the way in D’Evelyn’s second highest scoring output of the season.

The league win also gives D’Evelyn a quick start out of the gates with a 2-0 record in conference play. The Jaguars took a double-digit road victory against Evergreen right before the holiday break on Dec. 21.

“We have a tough top-end of the league,” Olson said referring to Green Mountain, Littleton, Evergreen and his Jaguars. “We have to make sure we are playing and working hard.” 

The lone loss so far this season with a defeat against Monarch. The Coyotes (8-0) are currently ranked No. 5 in Class 5A.

“Playing all those hard 5A teams at the beginning of the year I think really helped us,” Marvel said. “We lost to Monarch, but still played strong.”

D’Evelyn is scheduled to host Alameda International on Thursday, Jan. 6, to finish off play this week.

“I like the mentality and the make-up of our team,” Olson said. “We’ll be ready for whoever is next.”

Golden will attempt to get its first league win when it travels to Wheat Ridge High School to take on the Farmers on Friday, Jan. 7.