Green Mountain girls hoops slides past D’Evelyn in top-10 showdown

LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain’s girls basketball team is a perfect 10-0.

The Rams — No. 4 in the latest CHSAANow.com Class 4A girls basketball rankings — faced their toughest conference test so far this season on Wednesday night. Green Mountain (10-0 record, 5-0 in 4A Jeffco) passed with flying colors in a 51-34 home victory over No. 8 D’Evelyn.

“There are so many good things to say about so many of our girls,” Green Mountain coach Darren Pitzner said.

Green Mountain never trailed, but a 6-0 run by D’Evelyn (11-2, 5-1) evened the game at 10-10 heading to the second quarter. While the Rams came in on a 9-game winning streak, the Jaguars had an 8-game winning streak.

The Rams’ trio of seniors Avery Oaster, Shea Murphy along with junior Jayda Maves led the way. Maves finished with a game-high 15 points. Oaster had 13 points and Murphy poured in 14 points as Green Mountain pushed its 4A Jeffco League winning streak to 32 games dating back three years.

“Our kids were super prepared,” D’Evelyn coach Chris Olson said. “But let’s face it. Avery is the best post player in the league. Jayda is a 2-time league MVP. What do you do? You try to contain them, but they are going to get their points.”

Murphy was huge in giving the Rams a 22-16 lead at halftime. The senior captain had 8 points in the second quarter as the Jaguars focused on trying to prevent Maves from getting good looks at the basket.

Senior Morgan Falconer had a strong game defensively and hit a big 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that pushed the Rams’ lead to 38-26.

“Our defense and our scramble defense is what really got us through,” Oaster said. “A lot of teams don’t realize that it’s not just Jayda and I. A lot of other teammates can step up. Falconer has stepped up multiple times to hit those type of 3s.”

While D’Evelyn held Oaster and Maves below their scoring average, other Rams stepped up to grab yet another conference win and keep Green Mountain undefeated on the season.

“Shea had a really good second quarter and Morgan hit that 3-pointer,” Olson said. “We just didn’t have that tonight. We kept missing and they would answer on the other end.”

Green Mountain outscored D’Evelyn 29-16 in the second half thanks to a handful of steals that turned into breakaway layups. One of those transition buckets on a layup by Murphy gave the Rams’ its largest lead of the game at 47-28 midway through the fourth quarter.

“Our girls just have to stay faithful in themselves that they are going to make those runs,” Pitzner said. “It just took a little longer tonight to get going because D’Evelyn works so hard and are so well-coached.”

D’Evelyn sophomore Peyton Marvel scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the second half. Marvel came into the game averaging a double-double with 19.1 points and 15.3 rebounds per game.

“Marvel is just such a great worker when the ball is in the air,” Pitzner said. “Everyone on D’Evelyn can shoot and score. When the ball was in the air we wanted to focus on Peyton. That was a battle inside.”

Green Mountain and D’Evelyn will meet again on Feb. 11 in another league game. The Jaguars will host the next time.

“It’s an intense rivalry, but a positive rivalry,” Pitzner said.