Green Mountain girls basketball atop the 5A/4A Jeffco League summit

LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain girls basketball was able to check the box Tuesday night on the No. 1 goal this season.

The Rams’ dominating 72-20 home victory over Conifer officially clinched the Class 5A/4A Jeffco League title.

“I’m just so happy for the girls. I wanted this really badly for them,” Green Mountain coach Matteo Busnardo said of winning the conference championship. “They have worked so hard. They have put in the hours. They go year-round. They have put in the work. It’s all them.”

Green Mountain (20-2 record, 8-0 in league) ended D’Evelyn’s chance of a 3-peat last Friday night. Kantyn Pearson’s 3-pointer buzzer-beater on the Jaguars’ home court gave Green Mountain a 46-43 victory to remain undefeated in conference play. 

After the win over D’Evelyn (18-2, 5-2), all the Rams needed was a victory over Conifer or Wheat Ridge to claim their first league title since Green Mountain’s 3-peat from 2020 to 2022 under former coach Darren Pitzner. 

Head-to-head victories over Golden and Standley Lake allowed Green Mountain to set its sites on wrapping up the conference title with one league game remaining. 

“Every game we go into I tell the girls that we have a target on us. We have to do our job every single game,” Busnardo said after the Rams’ 19th straight victory. “Going into this one we knew what was at stake. Do our job and we’ll have our fun at the end.”

Green Mountain players, coach and fans had fun taking pictures with the league championship plaque and then cutting down the net to celebrate the program’s first league title since the 2021-22 season. 

“It is amazing. It’s so awesome,” said Green Mountain senior Julia Schafer, who also helped the Rams win a girls flag football league title during the Fall 2024 season. “We’ve been working so long to get this. Being a senior and being in the (varsity) program for three years, it’s amazing.”

Busnardo has kept the Rams as one of the premier girls basketball programs in Jeffco with a 54-18 record since he took over the helm at the beginning of the 2022-23 season. He was an assistant coach on Golden’s boys basketball staff when the Demons won the 4A Jeffco League title in 2019-20. 

“When I came into this I knew I had big shoes to fill taking over for Darren (Pitzner) and what they had done previously. Year 1, the goal was to keep us competitive and keep us similar to the standard that was before us,” Busnardo said. “Once you get comfortable you start to build your own program. My goal was to do it my way.”

Green Mountain scored every which way hitting in the 70-point mark for the third time during league play. Sophomores Ella Cockrum (14 points), Grace Herrig (10 points), along with seniors Maddie Baker (12 points) and Schafer (10 points) all finished in double-digit points for the Rams.

Junior Peyton Coil did have the shot of the night. Coil’s last-second heave from just beyond half-court hit nothing but the bottom of the net to give the Rams a 41-9 lead at halftime.

“Larry (assistant coach Larry Busnardo) and I practice them at practice,” Coil said of her half-court shot. “He looked over at me and said, ‘Peyton you got this. It’s your time.’ I just got it shot it. I don’t know.”

Green Mountain has a fairly long layoff before closing out the regular season. The Rams host Wheat Ridge on Wednesday, Feb. 19, next week. 

“This is our time to perfect our craft. We’ve got to sharpen our tools,” Busnardo said of the Rams playing just one more regular-season game before its playoff opener. “In practice will really got to grind. We are going to have really, really hard practices. We’ll get back to work.”

The Rams were No. 3 in the 5A girls basketball CHSAA Seeding & Selection Index before Tuesday’s victory. Green Mountain will wait to see how the seeding the for the 40-team state tournament shakes out. The bracket is scheduled to be revealed on Sunday, Feb. 23. 

Green Mountain will more than likely have a first-round bye and host a second-round game Saturday, March 1. 

“I’m so excited,” Schafer said of the 2025 going up on the girls basketball league championship banner that hangs in Green Mountain’s gym.

Conifer (11-8, 1-6) has four regular-season games left. The Lobos host Pomona coming up on Thursday before a couple of non-league games before the rivalry game against Evergreen on Feb. 19.

Freshman Izzy Ogdon has been a bright spot for the Lobos this season averaging more than 13 point per game. The freshman poured in a team-high dozen points in the loss to Green Mountain.

The Lobos drop down to 3A for the postseason. The 3A 32-team regional/state tournament bracket is scheduled to be released by CHSAA on March 2. Before Conifer’s loss to Green Mountain, the Lobos were No. 27 in the CHSAA Seeding & Selection Index.