AURORA | The Regis Jesuit girls basketball team proved to be up to the challenge thrown at it from Denver East Friday night, as the Raiders responded every time they needed to on their way to a Class 6A Sweet 16 victory.
The 23rd-seeded Angels — coached by former Regis Jesuit coach Carl Mattei — hung around into the late stages of the game and cut a double-digit deficit down to six points twice inside the final two minutes, but the seventh-seeded Raiders held on for a 69-61 win.
Regis Jesuit’s victory yielded a spot in the Feb. 29 Great 8 round on Feb. 29 at the Denver Coliseum, where it will play No. 2 Cherry Creek, a 44-28 winner over No. 15 Arapahoe. Both programs are among the quarterfinalists at the same time for a second straight season, while the Raiders have been at least that far seven times in the last eight seasons.
All six of the Regis Jesuit players that got into the scoring column made at least one 3-pointer and coach Jordan Kasemodel’s team made nine triples in all. Senior Hana Belibi poured in 20 points, while senior Coryn Watts added 18 and juniors Mallory Neff and Jane Rumpf had 10 apiece for the Raiders.
Regis Jesuit improved to 18-7 and will look to avenge a 60-56 regular season loss to Cherry Creek (21-4) Jan. 9.
The Aurora area has another quarterfinalist in top-seeded Cherokee Trail — which defeated No. 16 Highlands Ranch — while two-time defending large school classification winner and eighth-seeded Grandview lost a 49-45 contest to No. 9 Mullen.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(7) REGIS JESUIT 69, (23) DENVER EAST 61
Score by quarters:
Denver East 11 15 17 18 — 61
Regis Jesuit 20 9 23 17 — 69
DENVER EAST (61)
Jennesse Byrd 5 2-4 12, Liana Valdez 4 0-0 11, Mairead Hearty 5 5-5 15, Delaney Dennis 1 0-0 3, Ligia Thortvedt 4 4-4 12, Grace Hall 3 1-1 8. Totals 22 12-14 61.
REGIS JESUIT (69)
Jane Rumpf 3 2-4 10, Mallory Neff 3 2-2 10, Coryn Watts 6 4-6 18, Hana Belibi 8 3-3 20, Iliana Greene 3 1-4 8, Jada Hodges 1 0-0 3. Totals 24 12-21 69.
3-point field goals — Denver East (5): Liana Valdez 3, Delaney Dennis, Grace Hall. Regis Jesuit (9): Mallory Neff 2, Jane Rumpf 2, Coryn Watts 2, Hana Belibi, Iliana Greene, Jada Hodges. Total fouls — Denver East 16, Regis Jesuit 16. Fouled out — Regis Jesuit: Jane Rumpf. Technical fouls — None
