DENVER – When baskets were hard to come by, Mackenzie Jones did what came naturally.

She got in passing lanes, jumped in front of long passes, fronted the post and racked up a game-high seven steals to go along with 13 points, six rebounds and five blocks in a 56-42 win against Air Academy in the Class 5A girls state title game on Saturday at Denver Coliseum.

“Our defense is why we win,” Mackenzie Jones said. “That’s what we take pride in. That’s why we won. That’s what we took pride in. I wanted it really badly and that’s what it was about today. I took my pride in my defense and that’s what I value about my game.”

Chloe Pelster led the Mustangs (19-9) with 19 points and hit 3-of-5 shots from beyond the arc. Mullen hit 16-of-17 shots from the free-throw line to secure their eighth state title. Tatum Jones chipped in 16 points and 10 rebounds as the Mustangs handed the No. 1 seeded Kadets (26-1) their first loss of the season.

The Mustangs’ defense frustrated the Kadets to 32% shooting from the field and held them to 2-of-12, 16%, from 3-point range.

(Doug Ottewill)

“Defense is always it for us,” Mullen coach Tonia Jones said. “We can have an offensive game that is off. But, we can never be off on defense. That’s where our team knows what to do. The very first year I was here I felt the pressure to conform. But, I realized that our backbone had to be defense. Defense travels it’s always where it’s at. It’s what we had to focus on and it paid off for us today.”

Kansas recruit Tatyonna Brown scored a game-high 21 points for Air Academy and Kinley Asp added 13 points.

Both teams struggled to establish an offensive flow in a slow-moving first quarter. It wasn’t until the 5:50 mark when Jones notched the game’s first bucket with a layup.

Brown spun into a lefty layup that tied things at 2-2 where the score remained midway through the first quarter.

The Kadets shot 3-of-15 from the field in the opening quarter. The Mustangs had four turnovers and the Kadets three. Brown had all of the Air Academy points in the opening quarter until Audrina Nelson banked in a corner 3-pointer with 23 seconds left as the Kadets trailed 12-7 at the end of one.

A 3-pointer by Chloe Pelster pushed the Mustangs’ lead to 19-11 with 4:01 to play before halftime. Moments later, Pelster gave the Mustangs even more breathing room when she stepped back for another triple as Mullen extended its lead to 24-13.

“I wanted to play with intensity on defense,” Pelster said. “I wanted to stay in front of my girls and my teammates were there to have my back. I played with the same intensity all game and never let up on a play.”

Another Jones’ steal and coast-to-coast layup gave Mullen a 26-13 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, the Mustangs’s defense again held the Kadets in single digits. The highlight of the third was Keaton Arangua-egbert’s lob pass to Naomi Johnson for a layup and a 28-15 lead at the 4:17 mark. Pelster’s triple at the buzzer gave the Mustangs a commanding 37-21 lead at the end of the third quarter.

An 8-0 fourth-quarter run capped by an Asp driving layup pulled the Kadets within 43-31 with 4:16 to play. But, the Mustangs tic-tac-toe passing quickly broke the Kadets full-court press that led to a Pelster layup to end the Air Academy rally.

(Eric Brown)