Big-school boys basketball has been defined by
Regis Jesuit (Aurora) the past two
seasons, as the Raiders have captured the past two 5A championships
while simply mowing down in-state competition.
On Friday, that
in-state reign finally hit a speed bump.
Arapahoe (Littleton), led by 18 points from
Javon Moore, upended the Raiders 54-51, putting to rest Regis Jesuit's
48-game in-state winning streak.
"They outplayed us down the stretch and deserved to win," Raiders coach Ken Shaw said.
Arapahoe High's Javon Moore.
Photo by Patrick Miller
The news wasn't good for the Regis Jesuit girls, either. In fact, it
was worse. Junior forward
Katie Heckman, a 6-foot-3 and a Division I
prospect, is out indefinitely after tearing her ACL earlier this month.
Heckman,
a top recruit in the Class of 2012, is mulling offers from
10 Division I programs, including Duke and Stanford. The Raiders also
will be without guard
Madison Montgomery (ankle) for at least another
month.
LONGMONT GIRLS WIN HOOPLAThe
Longmont girls basketball team knows that, no matter how well things
go, the Trojans always will be viewed as 4A's second-most notable team
behind four-time champ Broomfield. For now, they are proving that second
is pretty good, better than many 5A squads.
The Trojans
rampaged their way to three-game sweep in the Heritage Holiday Hoopla,
and outlasted Grandview 66-56 in the tourney title game to enter the
break 8-0.
"This is our mini-championship before we go for the
big championship," said senior guard
Jamie Katuna, who scored 75 points
in the three games.
TOP PERFORMERS* Chris Hansen, Fossil Ridge: The SaberCats have darted to a 7-0 record, and
Hansen is a big reason why. He scored 39 points in a 74-34 shellacking
of Denver South on Tuesday and the senior also has produced outputs of
40, 30, 35 and 32 this season.
* Carlton Hurst, Aurora Central:
The Trojans are on a four-game losing streak, but don't blame the
sophomore. He's averaged 29 points per game during the skein. In Aurora
Central's two wins this season, he's been even better (35.5 average).
*
Bay'lee Purdy, Deer Trail: The junior figures to be on this list plenty this
season. Despite her team's 2-3 record, Purdy has been lights-out. Her
scoring outputs in the Eagles' first five games have been 26, 45, 33, 20
and 37. Add it up and it's a 32.2 average.
* Kelsey Doddridge,
Windsor: The senior had a nice week, posting performances of 22, 22 and
23 points as the Wizards went 2-1. Doddridge averages 16.4 points.
Paul Willis is a regular sports
freelancer for The Denver Post and covered high school, college and pro
sports for the Rocky Mountain News from 2000-09. You can reach him at
gdpdub@aol.com.
