D’Evelyn girls hoops undefeated heading into Jeffco League play

DENVER — If the non-league record for D’Evelyn’s girls basketball team is any indication, the Jaguars are ready for Class 5A/4A/3A Jeffco League play to begin.

D’Evelyn improved its record to 12-0 Tuesday night with a 58-32 home victory against Northglenn (4-5 record).

“We are going to find out next Wednesday,” D’Evelyn coach Chris Olson said about being ready for conference play that begins at Evergreen on Jan. 22. 

The Jaguars have won back-to-back conference titles while racking up a 50-5 record over the past two years. D’Evelyn hasn’t lost a league game over the last two seasons.

“We lost six pieces from last year’s team. All of them were really important,” Olson said of his six seniors from last year’s team that had a 23-4 record. “To figure that all out was a little scary going into the summer.”

D’Evelyn’s new pieces have fit together pretty well through its first dozen games. Eleven of the Jaguars’ wins so far has come in double-digit fashion. The closest game was a 38-35 victory over Thompson Valley (10-2) before Winter Break.

It was more of the same Tuesday night. Northglenn held an early 5-3 lead, but D’Evelyn went on a 25-0 run in the first half to pull away. The highlight in the first half was senior Cece Davis coming off the bench and pouring in nine points over the span of about 3 minutes.

“I’m really proud of her,” D’Evelyn senior Ellie McMann said of Davis. “Coming into the season she kind of knew she had some work to do. I’m really proud of her for putting the work and showing out here on the court.”

The Jaguars had a nice balanced scoring attack with sophomore Colleen Monahan (11 points), freshman Hazel Hermes (10 points) and McMann (10 points) all finishing in double-digit points. Davis (9 points) and junior Rowan Moden (8 points) also had a good night offensively.

“I’m so happy for kids like Cece in your program,” Olson said of the senior. “She had to wait for her time and opportunity. The last three games she has played really well. She has given us some good minutes off the bench.”

D’Evelyn has won six league titles while Olson at the helm, but he isn’t worried about the pressure of winning a third straight.

“One of the beautiful things of high school sports is you have new teams all the time,” Olson said of not focusing on a 3-peat. “It is great to have the tradition and the things that matter. We had a lot of alumni here tonight to help celebrate Coach (Scott) Deem. The feeling of being a family is what matters.” 

Before tipoff Tuesday night, former D’Evelyn assistant basketball coach Scott Deem was honored. Deem’s daughter and grandson were in attendance for a pregame celebration. Deem, who most recently was an assistant coach at Conifer, is currently battling cancer.

McMann is the most experienced Jaguar this season and was a major part of the last back-to-back league titles.

“I think it is always on my mind being on both teams,” McMann said of the Jaguars going for that third straight league title. “I think Colleen and Rowan also feel it too because they were here last year. It’s honestly more about carrying on the legacy.”

The Jaguars have more than a week break before conference play begins.

“I think a lot of our focus has been around that,” McMann said about the Jaguars being prepared for conference play. “I think it is nice that we have a week before league so we have a couple of good practices.”

The conference race should be compelling. Golden (10-0), Green Mountain (11-2), Standley Lake (10-2) and D’Evelyn (12-0) all have double-digit victories already this season before getting into league action.

“Obviously, we always want to hang a banner in the gym,” Olson said of going after another league title. “But it isn’t something we really talk about. We know we have good teams in our league and we know we are young. We’ll just give it a good effort every night and see what happens.”