Undefeated Green Mountain girls hoops grabs 16th victory

LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain and Lakewood girls basketball teams took a little hiatus from conference play Monday night.

Green Mountain — No. 3 in today’s newly released CHSAANow.com Class 4A rankings — hosted Lakewood from the 5A Jeffco League. The Rams stayed undefeated on the season with a 69-39 victory over the Tigers.

“It’s such a valued rivalry,” Green Mountain coach Darren Pitzner said of the Rams’ and Tigers’ girls basketball programs. “We’ve got so much respect for coach Chris Poisson and coach Tony Hartsock. We’ve helped each other’s programs out with scrimmaging each other in the fall and summer. Right now (Green Mountain) has this stacked group, but I’m sure it will be a 50/50 rivalry over the next decade.”

The Rams (16-0, 9-0 in 4A Jeffco League) had no problem picking up their 16th win of the season and staying undefeated. Green Mountain’s full-court pressure defense spearheaded by junior Jayda Maves got the Rams out to an impressive start.

“We love starting in our press,” Maves said about the Rams getting out to a 19-3 lead after the first quarter. “Our press give us the energy to keep us up and kind of drains the other team when they get rushed.”

Maves and senior Avery Oaster dominated the first half on both end of the court. Maves grabbed a handful of steals while making four 3-pointers in her 17-point first-half performance. Oaster poured in nine points in the opening half to give the Rams a comfortable 38-18 lead at the break.

“I love the way our girls start like that,” Pitzner said. “We can be really demanding on every close out and every rotation. They do it and then they go into these modes where I can just sit back an enjoy it.”

Maves and Oaster combined for 37 points despite not playing in the fourth quarter. Senior Morgan Falconer had 10 points as Green Mountain was able to go deep into its bench in the fourth quarter.

Lakewood was led by junior Zoe Zartman, who had five 3-pointers on the night. The Tigers drained eight 3-pointers, but it wasn’t enough to derail Green Mountain.

The Rams currently have a 36-game conference winning streak dating back to the 2018-19 season. Green Mountain has an extremely busy week playing four games in five days. The Rams have another non-league game tomorrow (Tuesday) at Cherry Creek followed up by a home league game against Evergreen on Wednesday.

“Playing Lakewood tonight and Cherry Creek tomorrow, we are really excited to play that competition,” Maves said.

The Bruins are No. 6 in the 5A rankings this week and coming off a tough loss to No. 2 Grandview last Friday.

“It’s an interesting one. It will be a good test,” Pitzner said of the week. “Our girls are craving some tough games and we’ve sure got one tomorrow.”

The last hurdle for Green Mountain to win a third straight conference title will come on the road against D’Evelyn (16-2, 10-1) on Friday night on the Jaguars’ home court. The Rams took the victory the first time around with a 51-34 home win over D’Evelyn.

“I’m truly excited for it,” Maves said of the Rams facing D’Evelyn at the tail end of this four games in five days stretch. “I’m really excited to play them again.”

Lakewood (10-8, 1-3) has another tall order in hosting No. 1 Valor Christian on Wednesday night. The Tigers are currently on a 3-game losing streak, but will hopefully have leading scorer and rebounder Anna Salmore back. Salmore missed Monday’s game.