AURORA | Roughly a year ago, the Regis Jesuit girls basketball team seemingly couldn’t miss a shot in a 31-point rout of Continental League rival Highlands Ranch.
In the rematch Friday night, it was quite the opposite.
Coach Carl Mattei’s Raiders — ranked No. 7 in the latest Associated Press Class 5A media poll — struggled mightily on offense for the first two-plus quarters and fell behind the third-ranked Falcons just enough for a late comeback to fall short in a 58-43 home defeat.
Regis Jesuit graduated all but one regular — senior guard Jess Lewis — from last season’s team that won a second straight 5A state championship and routed Highlands Ranch 69-38 on the Falcons’ home floor last season.
This season’s group has learned a lot of lessons this season with a young cast and another one came against Highlands Ranch (16-4 overall, 6-1 in the Continental League) which outscored the Raiders 34-16 in the middle two quarters to build a 19-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
Symone Starks scored eight points in the second quarter alone for the Falcons, one more than Regis Jesuit’s entire team. The Raiders (10-8, 4-2) managed just six field goals in the first half and finished 1-of-7 from the free throw line.
Regis Jesuit scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get any closer than 10 points as the Falcons sealed things at the free throw line in a foul-filled contest.
Junior Julia Drexelius knocked down four 3-pointers on her way to a team-high 16 points for the Raiders, while freshman Noelle Cahill added eight points and junior TaeKenya Cleveland finished with six.
The Raiders pay a visit to top-ranked ThunderRidge in another important key league contest on Feb. 10.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
(3) HIGHLANDS RANCH 58, (7) REGIS JESUIT 43
Score by quarters:
High. Ranch 8 13 21 16 — 58
Regis Jesuit 7 7 9 20 — 43
REGIS JESUIT (43)
Jess Lewis 1 3-3 5, TaeKeyna Cleveland 2 2-7 6, Julia Drexelius 5 2-2 16, Ezekia Johnson 1 0-1 2, Noelle Cahill 3 2-4 8, Aliah Humphrey 1 0-0 2, Maggie Grossaint 2 0-0 4, Emma Wrede 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 9-17 43.
3-point field goals — Regis Jesuit (4): Julia Drexelius 4.
