AURORA — Justine Hall understands there will be nights like she had on Tuesday, when she was feeling it, as well as others in which even if she brings her wallet, it won’t matter in terms of buying a basket.
The sophomore prefers the former.
The 5-foot-10 guard canned her first four shots and scored nine of her team’s first 14 points as Regis Jesuit began briskly, then ran past rival and visiting ThunderRidge 58-34 in the Class 5A Continental League.
“I pretty much had some open looks and my teammates were giving me good passes,” Hall said. “We moved the ball around pretty good, that’s how I was getting open.”
One of six sophomores on a roster that has changed considerably, mainly because of injury and others who lost interest, Hall scored 14 of her 17 points before halftime. The Raiders (10-3 overall, 2-0 in league), ranked No. 1 in The Denver Post 5A media poll, led early and often, and rode Hall’s hot shooting to a 28-17 halftime lead and 43-25 after three quarters.
With Regis Jesuit having one of the bigger, taller rotations inside, Hall realizes the value of her perimeter performance, both in drawing defenses away from the basket as well as finding someone down low.
“You find your spot, set up, then just catch it and shoot it,” she said. “We know they’re going to pack it in against our bigs. We’re always working on that.”
It was an aspect coach Carl Mattei would enjoy seeing more, preferably on a regular basis.
“We played four quarters for one of the first times all year,” Mattei said after his team’s defense also limited the Grizzlies to single-digit scoring in each quarter. “We’re trying to make the most of our opportunities.
“Justine was good early. She had really good form and a lot of confidence.”
Raiders senior post Katie Heckman, signed to play at Duke, led all scorers with 19 points and she grabbed 10 rebounds in limiting the No. 7 Grizzlies (8-5, 1-1), who have played all of one home game, to few second shots. Plus, they began cold and stayed cold — they made only 3-of-11 shots in the first quarter, 6-of-21 by halftime, then were 4-of-12 in the third quarter.
Point guard Marquelle Dent added 11 points for Regis Jesuit.
Reana Kaminsky led ThunderRidge with 12 points.
ThunderRidge: 9 8 8 9 — 34
Regis Jesuit: 14 14 15 15 — 58
ThunderRidge: Throop 2 0-2 6, R. Kaminsky 5 0-0 12, Chase 3 0-0 6, Porter 0 0-0 0, Williams 3 2-4 8, Lantzy 0 0-0 0, Yoney 0 0-0 0, Reiner 1 0-0 2, Wade 0 0-0 0, Birdsey 0 0-0 0, A. Kaminsky 0 0-1 0. Totals: 14 2-7 34.
Regis Jesuit: Dent 5 0-0 11, Hall 7 0-0 17, Lidge 0 0-0 0, Akigbogun 1 2-2 4, Heckman 8 3-6 19, Molyneaux 1 0-0 2, Kershisnik 1 0-0 3, Sandhagen 1 0-0 2, Lockley 0 0-1 0, Papadeas 0 0-0 0, Birchfield 0 0-0 0, Gholston 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 5-9 58.
3-pt. goals: R. Kaminsky 2, Throop 2; Hall 3, Dent, Kershisnik.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
