AURORA — And now for something completely different. Of course, these are not the Regis Jesuit Raiders of yesteryear. How could they be? The current roster has all of two seniors.
So this season’s group is far removed from a glorious decade that produced nine trips to the final four, three titles — including the past two among big schools — a half-dozen championship-game showings and a string of national rankings.
However, on Tuesday night, the Raiders upheld some postseason tradition as they won their 11th straight playoff game with a 46-40 decision of pesky, visiting Pomona of Jefferson County in Class 5A’s first round.
The playoffs officially began for the upper classifications as Regis Jesuit improved to 13-11 despite a game that wasn’t very pretty.
“It’s the way it has been,” Regis Jesuit coach Carl Mattei said. “But these kids continue to improve and learn.”
“It has definitely been a different season,” forward TaeKenya Cleveland said. “It’s a whole different group of girls. We trying to focus on ourselves and trying not to worry about everyone talking about all of the girls we lost.”
Of the ones Regis Jesuit still has, Cleveland and Ezekia Johnson, both 6-foot juniors, gradually controlled play as the Raiders grabbed the lead and kept it.
Johnson (16 points) and Cleveland (13) led the scoring inside and at the free-throw line, where the Raiders were 10-of-21. Shorter Pomona had no answer.
“Yeah, we walked in and saw we had a height advantage,” Cleveland said. “At first, we didn’t take advantage of it, but then our coach told us about it, and we listened to him.”
Pomona, which ended 9-15, has no seniors, yet made the Raiders sweat until the end. Ashley Madden led with 14 points, and Julia Trujillo added 11.
But a poor second quarter that included 1-of-12 shooting and 11 turnovers doomed the Panthers, although, as Mattei said, “(coach Shantel Muniz) has those kids playing hard, and you can see what it does.”
Regis Jesuit will travel to Grand Junction for Friday’s second round.
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or
(11) Pomona: 16 3 8 13 — 40
(6) Regis Jesuit: 11 12 10 13 — 46
Pomona — Ramirez 3 0-0 6, Madden 6 0-0 14, Medina 0 3-6 3, Shaffer 2 0-0 6, Trujillo 5 1-2 11, McClure 0 0-0 0, Vrtikapa 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 4-8 40.
Regis Jesuit — Lewis 3 1-3 7, Drexelius 1 0-1 2, Cleveland 5 3-6 13, Johnson 5 6-11 16, Cahill 1 0-0 2, Humphrey 2 0-0 4, Chaney 0 0-0 0, Wrede 0 0-0 0, Grossaint 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 10-21 46.
3-pt. goals — Madden 2, Shaffer 2.
