Kadets can't rise to Regis challenge

Aurora • For the second consecutive game, first-quarter field goals were hard to come by for Air Academy.

But this time, the Kadets couldn’t rally and their season ended with a 57-44 loss at Regis on Wednesday in the round of 16 of the 5A state tournament. The Kadets rallied from a slow start last weekend to knock off Ralston Valley in the second round.

The Kadets (22-3) made just one shot and trailed 15-3 after the first quarter.

Regis, which starts four girls over 6 feet tall, used its size to its advantage.

“We were giving up 20 inches in the starting lineups, so we knew we’d have to make some shots tonight,” Air Academy coach Ivan Chambers said. “We just couldn’t make a shot for anything in that first quarter.”

Regis (18-7) topped the Kadets by only one point in the game’s final three quarters, but the damage was done.

The Kadets’ only first-quarter field goal was a 3-pointer from leading scorer Miranda Beal. The 5-foot-10 sophomore finished with 19 points.

After Beal’s 3-pointer cut Regis’ lead to 4-3, Air Academy went cold. The Kadets didn’t score over the next 10 minutes, and Leigh Hamilton’s basket made the score 19-5.

“We had a game plan,” Chambers said. “But they hit some outside shots we were hoping they wouldn’t make. Even then, I thought we outplayed them a little in the second quarter. But we just couldn’t dig out of the whole we created.”

Trailing 21-10 at the half, the Kadets cut the lead to single digits with jumpers from Kate Louthan and Hamilton in the opening moments of the third quarter. The Raiders, however, answered with a 14-8 run to close the quarter with a 37-22 lead.

Megan O’Neil and Marquelle Dent led the Raiders with 12 points apiece.