BOULDER — Thursday night, Regis Jesuit put itself in position to win its second straight Class 5A state championship.
Regis defeated Poudre 58-35 to advance to the championship game scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, March 15, at the Coors Events Center in Boulder.
It was a struggle at time for the Raiders. Regis (25-2) shot just 40.5 percent from the field and was 4-for-14 from 3-point range.
“I think it’s kind of good to get this one out of our system before the championship,” said Regis senior Justine Hall, who led the Raiders with 16 points. “We’ve just got to come ready. We started out kind of slow, but we were able to pull it out.”
Regis never trailed, but it wasn’t until a 12-1 run in the third quarter did the Raiders push their lead well into double-digit points. Senior Jordan Molyneaux’s layup at the horn to end the third quarter gave Regis a 36-19 lead heading into the final quarter.
Solid defense is what Regis leaned on. Poudre was forced into 24 turnovers during the semifinal.
“When our shots are off and they aren’t falling we definitely pick it up with our defense,” Hall said.
Hall, Anna Ptasinski (12 points) and Neffie Lockley (10 points) led the Raiders in scoring. However, Hall was just 2-for-9 shooting. She was much better from the free-throw line making 11 of 12.
Regis’ second leading scorer this season, senior Diani Akigbogun, was limited to just six points on 2-for-7 shooting and fouled out with 2:08 left in the fourth quarter.
“I think we had to rely on our defense because we didn’t have the focus we should have had preparing for the final four of the tournament,” Regis coach Carl Matte said. “If you would have told me Justine would have two hoops and Diani would have two hoops, and we still win by 20 points I would have told you, ‘No way.’”
Poudre’s aggressive defense gave Regis headaches at times. The Raiders turned the ball over eight times in the first half while only scoring 24 points in the first 16 minutes.
“I thought our defense was great. I thought our defense was the best in the state this year,” Poudre coach Curtis Glesmann said. “We showed it wasn’t a fluke against a really good team.”
Poudre did manage to outscore Regis 10-9 in the second quarter. Seniors McKenzie McDaniel and Myanne Hamm each hit a pair of 3-pointers in the quarter to help the Impalas cut the Raiders’ lead to under double-digits, 24-16, at halftime.
Matte described the Impalas’ game plan as “terrific,” but didn’t mince words at halftime with his players.
“I told them at halftime, ‘Guys, that first half was just miserable. You were just playing to play. Just do what we do,’” Matte said. “They started to calm down a bit.”
Hamm scored all 16 points for Poudre (21-6) in the fourth quarter. She finished with a game-high 21 points. McKenzie McDaniel finished with 10 points for the Impalas.
“Myanne is a phenomenal player. So are the twins (Ashley and McKenzie McDaniel),” Glesmann said. “They kept our spirits up when it got kind of rough.”
The Raiders sealed the victory making 16 of 21 free throws in the fourth quarter.
Regis will attempt to win its third state hoops state title since 2009. It will be the sixth appearance in a state championship game for the Raiders since 2006. Regis’ record in title games is 2-3.
This version of the Raiders has lost only two games this season. Both came to out-of-state teams from Long Beach Poly (Calif.) and Incarnate Word Academy (Mo.).
The defending state champions will face the winner of the last semifinal of the night, Fossil Ridge/Grandview.
“We just want to come out here and play as hard as we can and do what we do,” Hall said about Saturday’s title game.
