For the first half of Tuesday night’s Sweet 16 battle against Regis Jesuit, Cherry Creek hung tough against the favored Raiders, heading into the locker room down just two.
But midway through the third quarter, in a still-in-doubt four-point game, Regis Jesuit phenom Fran Belibi did as she often does. With stunning ease, she pulled off back-to-back plays that both wowed the crowd and gave the Raiders the permanent momentum in a 58-50 victory in Aurora.
First, Belibi took an alley-oop inbound pass from junior Sidney Weigand and kissed it off the glass for a near-dunk, and one, and then on the ensuing defensive possession the junior had a thunderous block to give the Raiders the ball back.
“When we use back screens on the inbound, that’s a Bill Self Kansas play — we incorporate that to get (freshman point guard) Avery VanSickle a shot at the three, and if not, we got the double back screen,” Regis Jesuit coach Carl Mattei explained.
“We try to use that sort of stuff to get Fran going, because once she’s playing up in the air near the rim, she starts feeling it and that brings up her game defensively, too.”
Belibi and VanSickle’s escalation in the second half — each finished with 12 and 18 points respectively — rubbed off on their teammates, especially when it came to limiting Cherry Creek’s fastbreak game led by sophomore point guard and Stanford commit Jana Van Gytenbeek.
“In our defensive transition, we gave up a lot of run-outs that first half, and we just weren’t getting back,” Mattei said. “In the third quarter, I asked them to limit Cherry Creek on their run-outs and see if they could beat us in the half-court game. We won that quarter 16-7 and got the buffer, and then just managed the clock.”
Van Gytenbeek had a game-high 19 points for the 11th-seeded Bruins (19-6) while senior wing Sydney Mech (Denver commit) contributed 18, but it was not enough to overcome the 6th-seeded Raiders (22-3, Continental League champions) in front of a lively crowd at Guy Gibbs Gymnasium.
Regis Jesuit now takes on No. 3 Horizon (22-2) in the Great 8 at the Denver Coliseum on Friday.
Other 5A/4A Sweet 16 Results
Class 5A
No. 1 Fruita Monument 57, No. 16 Denver East 33
No. 8 Fossil Ridge 50, No. 9 Mountain Vista 39
No. 4 Grandview 75, No. 20 Columbine 36
No. 5 Highlands Ranch 74, No. 12 Fairview 39
No. 2 Lakewood 63, No. 15 Dakota Ridge 19
No. 7 Ralston Valley 52, No. 10 Castle View 43
No. 3 Horizon 56, No. 19 Arapahoe 35
Great 8 (Friday at Denver Coliseum)
Fruita Monument vs. Fossil Ridge
Grandview vs. Highlands Ranch
Lakewood vs. Ralston Valley
Horizon vs. Regis Jesuit
Class 4A (
No. 1 Pueblo West 53, No. 16 Greeley Central 31
No. 8 Mesa Ridge 72, No. 9 Thomas Jefferson 49
No. 20 Sierra 63, No. 4 Windsor 58
No. 12 Pueblo South 52, No. 5 Valor Christian 47
No. 15 Widefield 59, No. 3 Holy Family 53
No. 10 Golden 49, No. 7 D’Evelyn 40
No. 6 Evergreen 59, No. 22 Lewis-Palmer 36
No. 3 Air Academy 42, No. 14 Rifle 25
Great 8 (Friday at home sites)
Pueblo West vs. Mesa Ridge
Sierra vs. Pueblo South
Widefield vs. Golden
Air Academy vs. Evergreen
