It was over in minutes.
Monarch roared into its third final four next week under coach Gail Hook with a decisive 62-36 whipping of ThunderRidge on Saturday in Class 5A’s Great 8 at the Denver Coliseum.
The Coyotes (22-5) will meet Regis Jesuit on Wednesday at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The two programs met in the 2009 championship game, when the Coyotes fell 44-37.
But on Saturday, it was a no-doubter — Monarch bolted to a 17-3 lead, flew around on defense, was successful in transition and Hook received the kind of team play and effort on defense she demands.
Monarch’s defense was so thorough that the Grizzlies, who ended 16-9, had only one basket in the first quarter, two by halftime and five after three quarters.,
“We rotated well and we trapped well,” Hook said.
The Coyotes also welcomed back senior and Grambling State-bound Alexus Johnson, who scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Johnson, suspended for two games, also blocked a couple of shots and was a welcomed site for Hook , who also lauded other Coyotes who stepped in the past two rounds.
In reality, though, Hook said, “(Johnson, a 6-footer) is a tough matchup.”
So were other Coyotes, notably Ashton Davis, who contributed 11 points and seven rebounds, and Jordan Eisler, who had seven rebounds.
ThunderRidge had no answers. The Grizzlies turned tentative after the opening possessions and finished 9-of-51 from the floor. They didn’t make a 2-point basket until their lone senior, Taylor Chase, made a short jumper from the left side 6:53 to play.
Constant pressure by a more experienced and stronger Monarch didn’t help ThunderRidge, which has made at least this round nine times the past decade.
“We’re a finesse team and they’re physical,” Grizzlies coach Bill Bradley said. “We’ve got a lot of young kids and some other good ones coming in, but we’ve just got to go and learn from it.”
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
