AURORA — This is a newer Regis Jesuit squad, and in every regard.
Notably, many of this season’s Raiders are the ones who practiced in recent seasons against a wave of high-profile teammates who went on to the Division I level.
It has showed so far into the stretch run of the 2009-10 season as the defending champion Raiders will be in Saturday’s Great 8 at the Denver Coliseum. They handled visiting Air Academy, a regular playoff challenger the past six seasons that has averaged 20 victories, 57-44 on Wednesday night in the Sweet 16 and are closing in on defending their crown.
Next up for Regis Jesuit (18-7) is Monarch, which lost to the Raiders in last season’s title game.
After a slow start to the season, the Raiders’ wave of taller, bigger girls has been difficult to deal with. The Kadets, who also struggled shooting early and experienced turnovers seemingly by the dozen, had no answers.
“It was a lot of fun under the basket,” Regis Jesuit senior Megan O’Neil said.
O’Neil, 6-feet-3, tied with point guard Marquelle Dent for team-high scoring honors with 12 points but also was there with Janae Hall (6-0), Katie Heckman (6-4) and Colleen Rooney (6-3) to regularly limit Air Academy to one shot and discourage attempts anywhere near the paint.
“When your tallest player is 5-10 . . . I think one of my coaches added it up that we were giving up a total of 20 inches in the starting lineup,” Kadets coach Ivan Chambers said. “And that’s tough.”
It was for the Kadets at the beginning — they made only one of their first 14 shots, had 14 turnovers and fell behind 19-3. However, they stayed within range, trailed only 21-10 at halftime and appeared to be making a run after halftime.
But O’Neil scored six of her points in the third quarter, and the Raiders’ interior prevented any serious move.
“These kids had to grow up, and I didn’t realize how fast they were growing up,” Regis Jesuit coach Carl Mattei said. “What length they have, and you can’t practice against that.”
Rooney added 10 points for the Raiders, who would enjoy nothing more than playing for a state title without their all-star rosters of past seasons.
“I definitely have confidence in this team all the way through,” said O’Neil, who will play next season at the Air Force Academy.
“I think we can make it to Boulder (for next week’s final four).”
Air Academy 3 7 12 22 — 44
Regis Jesuit 15 6 16 20 — 57
Air Academy — Schweiss 2 0-0 4, Todd 0 1-2 1, Louthan 2 0-0 5, Kama 1 0-0 2, Beal 8 0-0 19, Aschom 1 0-0 2, Roiko 1 0-0 2, Reifschneider 0 0-0 0, Hamilton 4 1-2 9, Braden 0 0-0 0, Jenkinson 0 0-0 0, Goins 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 2-4 44.
Regis Jesuit — O’Neil 6 0-0 12, Dent 3 6-9 12, St. John 0 2-2 2, Heckman 2 3-5 7, Ward 0 0-0 0, Hall 1 2-3 4, Montgomery 1 0-0 2, Kershisnik 0 1-2 1, Revels 3 0-0 7, Rooney 4 2-2 10, Alexander 0 0-0 0, Sandhagen 0 0-2 0. Totals 20 16-25 57.
3-point goals: Beal 3, Louthan; Revels.
