DENVER | There was happiness somewhere inside, but it wasn’t abundantly obvious when looking at the starters on the Grandview girls basketball team in the late stages of their big Class 6A Great 8 win Saturday afternoon.
The top-five from the top-seeded Wolves sat on the bench at the Denver Coliseum as reserves finished out a 54-34 victory over No. 8 Denver East and weren’t filled with the jubilation that many teams in their position might have.
Grandview had four players in double figures — sophomore Ava Chang with 17 points, followed by senior Deija Roberson with 11 and seniors Sienna Betts and Maya Smith with 10 apiece — on its way to its 17th consecutive victory, but coach Josh Ulitzky’s team remains in search of its best game.
“Honestly we felt great, but we have such high expectations for ourselves, that we don’t think we performed to the level we could have,” Roberson said. “That got us a little down and the heat of the moment, but honestly it feels so good to win and move on. We 100 percent know we can play better.”
The Wolves (23-3) missed out on a trip to the Denver Coliseum last season when they were upset by Centennial League rival Mullen in the Sweet 16, but the program earned a return to the venue (home for the Great 8 rounds and later) for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons.
All four of Grandview’s seniors — Betts, Roberson, Smith and Leaiva Holliman — were part of the team that won the 6A state championship in the 2022-23 season and three of the four were on the roster for the state title victory the previous season as well.
So it was no surprise that they were comfortable at the Denver Coliseum from the opening tip against a Denver East program — coached by former Regis Jesuit coach Carl Mattei — that hadn’t been there since the 2009-10 season.
Roberson poured in seven early points and Betts had six in the opening period, which ended with a 13-point Grandview advantage. The Wolves limited the Angels to just two field goals in the first two quarters, while all their other points came from the free throw line.
“We felt pretty comfortable right off the bat,” Roberson said. “It felt so good to get right into it and get the flow of our game going. …You could tell they (Denver East) weren’t really used to the rims and the environment right away, but at the end they got going.”
The 6-foot-4 Betts — the two-time Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year and McDonald’s All-American — faced a consistent double-team from Denver East post players Evelina Otto and Mairead Hearty, which limited her offensive production.
Betts finished with 10 points to match her season low, but was incredibly impactful as usual with her rebounding (14), shot blocking (3) and composure. Fortunately, the Wolves got contributions from several sources, including Chang, who led all scorers in her first trip to the Denver Coliseum.
“Coming in, I was pretty nervous,” Chang said. “It’s a big arena, so I was just trying to set my mind right. Everybody was talking about the depth perception for the shooting, so I was really trying to use my time in warmups to get that right.”
Smith knocked down two 3-pointers in the opening half, Holliman added another and seven Grandview players in all got in the scoring column in an effective team game in which the Wolves added to their lead after every quarter until the end.
“To be able to get back here and find a way to win is great,” Ulitzky said. “Credit to a lot of our kids for knocking down big shots and I’m really happy for those girls.”
Denver East’s only lead of the game came when Hearty (who finished with 11 points) made a 3-pointer in the opening minute.
Next up for Grandview is not a third matchup with Centennial League rival and fourth-seeded Cherry Creek, as the Bruins were knocked off by No. 5 Pine Creek 38-33 in the final Great 8 contest of the day.
Note: It was the first matchup on the bench between Ulitzky and Mattei, the only two coaches who have led Aurora area girls basketball programs to state championships, since the semifinals of the then-Class 5A state tournament in 2020-21 when Mattei was at Regis Jesuit. Mattei guided the Raiders to eight state finals appearances in his tenure (which ended in 2021) and the program won back-to-back then-Class 5A state championships in 2014 and 2015, while Ulitzky has led Grandview to state titles in 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2023. Both have passed the 400-win milestone and have moved into the top 10 all-time in Colorado girls coaching ranks. Mattei is now 45-30 since he took over at Denver East before the 2022-23 season. “I don’t know if Carl knew the number of sure, but he said before the game it was like the 15th time we’d gone against each other,” Ulitzky said.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2025 CLASS 6A GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS (GREAT 8)
(1) GRANDVIEW 54, (8) DENVER EAST 34
Score by quarters:
Denver East 6 5 10 13 — 34
Grandview 19 8 11 16 — 54
DENVER EAST (34)
Naomi Golden 0 2-2 2, Grace Hall 2 1-2 6, Liana Valdez 0 4-4 4, Evelina Otto 1 5-6 7, Mairead Hearty 3 3-4 11, Hannah Watson 0 0-0 0, Cece Brinton 1 0-0 2, Alyza Jaszczyk 0 0-0 0, Nasi Samuels 1 0-0 2, Alyzah Jasczcyk 0 0-0 0, Olivia Hanlon 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 15-18 34.
GRANDVIEW (54)
Leiava Holliman 1 1-2 4, Ava Chang 7 2-2 17, Deija Roberson 5 1-1 11, Maya Smith 4 0-0 10, Sienna Betts 4 2-4 10, Aliya Zitek 1 0-0 2, Amya Narducci 0 2-2 2, Aniya Coleman 0 0-0 0, Brooke Sullivan 0 0-0 0, Kendall Tracy 0 0-0 0, Sorelle Kamgamg 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 8-11 54.
3-point field goals — Denver East (3): Mairead Hearty 2, Grace Hall. Grandview (4): Maya Smith 2, Ava Chang, Leiava Holliman. Total fouls — Denver East 12, Grandview 13. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
