AURORA | A profile look at Grandview senior Lauren Betts, who is on the roster for Team East in the fifth A-Town All-Star Girls Game:
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
LAUREN BETTS
School: Grandview High School
Year: Senior
Height: 6-foot-7
2021-22 average: 17.2 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.6 blocks, 3.5 assists
Season highlights: Coach Josh Ulitzky’s Grandview team went through the fire of a lot of competition against out-of-state powerhouse teams in the early portion of the season and then played its best basketball of the season later on its way to winning the Centennial League and later the Class 5A state championship. Betts — the consensus top-ranked player in the country in the Class of 2022 — had as fine a season as any girls basketball player in Aurora history and possibly any the state has seen before. The state championship came after she had been named a McDonald’s All-American, a Naismith All-American first teamer and Gatorade’s Colorado Player of the Year among other accolades. She was one of only two Aurora girls players to average a double-double on the season (Aurora Central’s Jazlynn O’Roy was the other) as she was good for 17.2 points and 11.0 rebounds per contest — which led to 15 double-doubles — while she also led her team with 3.6 blocks shots per game and tied with her freshman sister, Sienna, atop the Wolves with 3.5 assists per contest. Betts established a career-high with 33 points in a win over eventual semifinalist Arapahoe. She is a four-time A-Town All-Star Game selection and played in her freshman season of 2019.
Betts vs. Aurora teams: vs. Cherokee Trail (17 points, 8 rebounds); vs. Eaglecrest (19 points, 9 rebounds); vs. Regis Jesuit (23 points, 10 rebounds); vs. Eaglecrest (29 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocks); vs. Smoky Hill (22 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 blocks); vs. Overland (11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 blocks)