DENVER — It wasn’t pretty at times, but D’Evelyn girls basketball team protected it home court in the round of 32 of the Class 4A state tournament Friday night.

The No. 6-seeded Jaguars defeated No. 27 Peak to Peak 54-24 to advance D’Evelyn to the Sweet 16.

“Can only imagine the stats,” D’Evelyn coach Chris Olson said with a smile about the first game in nearly 10 days for the Jaguars. “At halftime we said we set the school record for offensive rebounds in a half. Which almost meant we had the worst shooting percentage in an opening half.”

D’Evelyn (21-3 record) got out to a 9-3 lead after the first quarter, but the Pumas (8-16) went on a mini-run in the middle of the second quarter to cut the Jaguars’ lead to 15-12 with 3 minutes left in the first half.

Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools

The Jaguars did muster up an 8-0 run to end the half, which included a 3-pointer by junior Colleen Monahan in the final seconds.

“When you get to this point you have to rely on a couple of those kids to hit a bucket or make a 3-pointer,” Olson said. “We have some depth. We can play nine or ten.”

Monahan led the Jaguars with 11 points. Sophomore Giada Lampert added 10 points. Juniors Bobbi Jo Marvel and Olivia Shelden combined for 15 points. Senior Rowan Moden had six of her points in the second half.

“I think we have a lot of people who can come in and do a lot of different things,” Monahan said.

Olson was a little short-handed with starter Claire Nagy home sick. The hope is the sophomore guard will be back for the Sweet 16 game against No. 11 The Classical Academy at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 7.

TCA (15-9) handled No. 12 Manitou Springs 60-31 in the second round of 32 game played at D’Evelyn on Friday night.

“If TCA wins they are a handful,” Olson said of the Sweet 16 game back at D’Evelyn Junior/Senior High School tomorrow. “They have lost to some hard teams. We’ll have our hands full.”

There is some recent playoff history between Peak to Peak and D’Evelyn. The Jaguars traveled to Lafayette in the Sweet 16 last season on knocked off the Pumas on their home court. D’Evelyn took a 47-41 victory to advance to the state quarterfinals in 2025.

D’Evelyn has advanced at least to the Great 8 of the 4A state tournament the previous four seasons. The Jaguars were the 4A state runner-up in 2023 and made it to the Final Four in 2024.

“It’s a point of pride for us,” Olson said of the Jaguars’ consistency over the past several years. “I think this is our fifth straight 20-plus win season, which is really hard to do in varsity basketball.”

Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools