AURORA | Not since the semifinals of the then-Class 5A girls basketball state playoffs back in the 2020-21 season had the Grandview girls basketball team felt the sting of postseason defeat.
That changed Friday night on the Wolves’ home floor, as the winner of the past two state championships in the larger classification — in 5A in 2022 and 6A in 2023 — and the No. 8 overall seed fell to ninth-seeded Mullen 49-45 in a Sweet 16 matchup of Centennial League rivals.
Grandview’s 11-game postseason winning streak that stretched back to a loss at Regis Jesuit in the 2021 Final Four came to end at the hands of Mullen, which ended up with two wins in the three meetings of the teams during the season. The Mustangs won in regular season play, while coach Josh Ulitzky’s Wolves took the meeting a week ago in the third-place game of the Centennial League Challenge.
Junior Sienna Betts poured in a game-high 23 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, but her absence due to foul trouble in the third quarter coincided with a Mullen run that got its lead to as much as eight points. Sophomore Lexi Yi added 14 for Grandview.
Mullen moves on to a Great 8 matchup on Feb. 29 at the Denver Coliseum against top-seeded Cherokee Trail, which defeated No. 16 Highlands Ranch 54-30. A second Aurora area team, No. 7 Regis Jesuit, also advanced to the Great 8 as it defeated No. 23 Denver East 69-61.
Grandview — which opened the season with grueling out of state tournaments — finished the season 14-11. The last time the Wolves did not advance past the Sweet 16 came back in 2015, when former star Michaela Onyenwere (who now plays in the WNBA) scored 43 points in a wild 86-83 road loss at Lakewood (story, here).
After that, Grandview won state championships in 2017 and 2018 and again in 2022 and 2023.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(9) MULLEN 49, (8) GRANDVIEW 45
Score by quarters:
Mullen 9 10 15 14 — 49
Grandview 14 6 11 14 — 45
MULLEN (49)
Keaton Arangua-Egbert 5 1-2 14, Makenzie Jones 5 4-6 15, Chloe Pelster 2 0-2 6, Allison Schwertner 5 2-2 13, Tatum Jones 0 1-2 1, Ryker Thomas 0 0-0 0, Annie Johnson 0 0-0 0, Zaraiyi Garcia 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 8-14 49.
GRANDVIEW (45)
Maya Smith 0 2-2 2, Lexi Yi 5 3-5 14, Ava Chang 2 0-0 4, Deija Roberson 1 0-0 2, Sienna Betts 10 2-5 23, Amya Narducci 0 0-0 0, Leiava Holliman 0 0-0 0, Aliya Zitek 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 7-12 45.
3-point field goals — Mullen (7): Keaton Arangua-Egbert 3, Chloe Pelster 2, Makenzie Jones, Allison Schwertner. Grandview (2): Sienna Betts, Lexi Yi. Total fouls — Mullen 12, Grandview 16. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
