Ralston Valley girls basketball topples Evergreen for the second time this season

ARVADA — Junior Santana Sabus wasn’t too worried about reprimanded by Ralston Valley principal Mica Buenning when she gets to school Wednesday morning.

“No. I think she (Principal Buenning) loves it. She gets to see her daughter play and watch us play at the same time,” Sabus said after her 25-point output Tuesday night at Ralston Valley High School. “It’s the best of both worlds.”

Ralston Valley took a 70-43 victory over Evergreen in a non-league game. For the second time this season, Mica Buenning’s allegiance was split by watching her Ralston Valley girls basketball team facing Evergreen, who is coached by Mica’s husband Cub Buenning and the Cougars’ leading scorer is her daughter — junior Elle Buenning.

“It is a little different, also playing them for a second time is always kind of tough,” said Ralston Valley coach Amy Bahl, who actually guided Evergreen to back-to-back 4A state titles 2017 and 2018 when she coached the Cougars. “I thought our girls showed up to play tonight.”

Ralston Valley and Evergreen met up in the final round of the Fairview Tournament on Dec. 13. The Mustangs got the better of the Cougars that time around too with a 68-40 victory.

Evergreen (5-10, 0-2 in 5A/4A/3A Jeffco League) looked dangerous to start Tuesday night despite coming in with a 5-game losing streak. Evergreen got out to an early 6-0. 

The Cougars’ 6-footers — Elle Buenning and Avery Coppin — had success in the first few minutes on the inside before Ralston Valley adjusted its defense to putting more pressure to make it more difficult for the Cougars to get the ball inside the paint.

Ralston Valley (9-6, 3-2 in 6A Jeffco) went on an 8-0 run and then 7-0 run to grab a 15-12 lead after the first quarter. The Mustangs scored the first 12 points in the second quarter and never looked back.

“With our five-out motion I tell the girls all the time that they are all good shooters, but also capable of attacking the basket,” Bahl said. “Just trying to find that confidence for them now to do that. When we move the ball around and play team basketball we are pretty good and hard to guard.”

Sabus hit her scoring average of just over 25 points per game. The junior had a career-high 50 points in a loss to Columbine back on Jan. 21. Senior Brynley Huertas had a nice game off the bench with 13 points for the Mustangs. Sophomore Sydni Gregory was aggressive going to the hoop while pouring a 12 points.

Buenning (19 points) and Coppin (13 points) led the way for the Cougars.

“This has been a nice break,” Bahl said of Ralston Valley getting a few out-of-league games amid the thick of the 6A Jeffco League schedule. “Every conference game is tough, so it is nice to see some different competition.”

The Mustangs have a 3-game stretch with non-league games against Doherty, Evergreen and Fountain-Fort Carson. Ralston Valley will attempt to sweep the three games when it hosts Fountain-Fort Carson on Thursday, Jan. 29.

“Every game is important. You can’t look on toward one game before another is done,” Sabus said. “We’ve got an important game against Fountain-Fort Carson. We have to focus on the game that is coming up, then we can look toward Saturday and the excitement around that game.”

Saturday’s game will be the first of two showdowns against rival Arvada West (12-2, 2-2). Ralston Valley and A-West will tipoff off at 5 p.m. Saturday in the first game of a varsity girls/boys doubleheader at Arvada West High School.

“Hopefully we can build some confidence with a couple of wins here going into that game,” Bahl said of the showdown at Arvada West on Saturday.

Evergreen will attempt to pick up its first league win at home against Wheat Ridge (4-12, 1-2) on Wednesday, Jan. 28. The Cougars have a big league test at Green Mountain (16-1, 3-0) in what will be a 1 p.m. tipoff Saturday, Jan. 31.