Green Mountain girls basketball get its revenge on D’Evelyn

DENVER — The sequel was just as good as the original.

Six days after D’Evelyn took a 42-37 overtime victory at Green Mountain High School to give the Jaguars back-to-back Class 5A/4A Jeffco League titles. The Rams got their revenge Thursday night handing D’Evelyn a 30-28 loss in the regular-season finale for both playoff-bound squads.

“Last Friday was electric at our place and I know that one was for the league title,” Green Mountain coach Matteo Busnardo said. “I told the girls I knew we would get another chance at them. I’m just so proud of them. This was a very defensive battle.”

Similar to last week’s game, the Rams — No. 7 in the final 5A girls Colorado Preps media and coaches rankings — held a 6-point lead early in the fourth quarter.  This deference this time around was Green Mountain (17-6 record) never gave up the lead.

Green Mountain sophomore Kantyn Pearson scored five of her team-high 10 points to keep D’Evelyn — No. 2 in the 4A girls poll — from mounting another fourth-quarter rally.

“It was defintely fuel for us,” Pearson said of the loss last week to the Jaguars that cost Green Mountain the conference title. “None of us wanted to repeat that same thing. They won on our floor, so we had to win on their floor.”

Green Mountain leaned on it defense this season and a balanced scoring attack that doesn’t have one player averaging more than 10 points per game. Pearson has scored double-digit points in 8-of-10 games to close out the regular season.

“Kantyn is a hooper,” Busnardo said. “Before the season my Dad and assistant talked, we said she could be our leading scorer. She has come a long way this year. I’m just so happy I get her for the next two years.”

D’Evelyn junior Ellie McMann was fouled when taking a 3-pointer with 1:10 left in the game. McMann made all three free throws to cut the Rams’ lead to 29-28. D’Evelyn senior Ingrid Dalla was fouled going after a loose ball, but she missed both of her free throws that could have either tied or given the Jaguars with lead with 21 second left.

“Both teams played great defense,” D’Evelyn coach Chris Olson said after his Jaguars were held to a season-low 28 points. “We made some adjustments, but we just couldn’t take advantage of. Then we just couldn’t make a shot.”

Pearson went to the free-throw line with 9 seconds remaining and made 1-of-2 to push the lead to 30-28. D’Evelyn (20-3) turned the ball over and wasn’t able to get off a final shot in the closing seconds.

Green Mountain ended D’Evelyn’s 13-game winning streak.

“Honestly, it means everything,” Pearson said. “We didn’t think we could come close at times. At times we thought we had this game easy. It was just crazy to win.”

D’Evelyn dynamic senior duo of Peyton Marvel and Macy Scheer were held to 18 points and the rest of the Jaguars managed just 10 points combined.

“They are handfuls,” Busnardo said of Marvel and Scheer. “We wanted to limit them as much as possible. We knew we could be successful if we limited them. Two great players and we just tried to do our best to slow them down.”

Junior Julia Schafer had the task of shadowing Marvel on defense most of the game. Schafer contributed 6 points offensively. Freshman Grace Harrig held Scheer to 4 points while the freshman poured in 6 points herself.

“That is how teams are going to play us in the playoffs,” Olson said of the Rams focusing on Marvel and Scheer. “They are going to take away your two best and make other kids make plays. For us, this is a valuable game.”

Both D’Evelyn and Green Mountain will find out Sunday, Feb. 18, who they will face in the opening round of the state tournaments. Despite the loss, the Jaguars should be one of the top seeds in the 4A tournament, while the Rams will likely grab a top-8 seed in the 5A tournament.

“We want two home games,” Busnardo said of the Rams’ focus to get a top-8 seed for the 5A state tournament. “Two games at home, you win those and you’re heading to the Coliseum. That is what we want.”

D’Evelyn was the 4A state runner-up a year ago. The Jaguars are defintely capable of making another solid run if they can shake off the tough home loss.

“We are always building to that next step, the playoffs,” Olson said. “We won the game that we really wanted to win the league championship. This one is, ‘Can we get better from it?’ You learn from this loss and that is all that matters.”

D’Evelyn and Green Mountain will both host first-round playoff games Tuesday, Feb. 20.