Centaurus High School’s Laura Gensert and Evergreen’s Jameson Mott crossed the 1,000-point career milestone early this week, each of them leading teams that’ve had drastically different starts to this winter season.
Gensert, the Lafayette school’s longtime sharpshooter, hit the rare feat in a win over Silver Creek Wednesday night. The Warriors are 10-0 and are currently ranked second in Class 5A.
Mott, averaging 20.2 points per game coming into Wednesday meanwhile, has been a bright spot for the 2-9 Cougars. She got over the threshold with a 25-point performance in a win over Battle Mountain Monday.
In this week’s look at the big classifications in girls hoops, we take a look at a few standouts on teams with both winning and losing records heading into Thursday’s slate of games.
Class 6A
Eaglecrest senior Mia McKenzie: The Raptors (9-3) entered the classification’s top 10 this week, moving into the nine spot.
McKenzie, averaging 16.5 points per game and 7.7 rebounds, has been a major reason for it.
After losing three straight to California teams to open the season, Eaglecrest has won nine straight, beating Chaparral 44-25 Wednesday night.
McKenzie has led the streak with four double-doubles and double-figure points in all but two games. Back in December, the senior had a school-record 33 points in a win over Utah-school Carbon.
Eaglecrest will go for its 10th straight win at No. 13 Rangeview Saturday.
Legacy sophomore Olivia Mortensen: The Lancers lost three starters to injuries at the start of the season, including starting point guard Madison Allshouse, who is out for the year. They started 1-6 and are currently just 3-7.
None of it takes away what Mortensen has been able to accomplish in her young high school career.
A first-team all-Front Range League player as a freshman, Mortensen already is consistently thrown double and triple-team looks. Despite it, she averages 15.3 points, 11 rebounds and 2.6 steals this winter.
Mortensen is currently fourth in the class with six double-doubles.
“We know that teams are going to put two, three people on her,” Legacy coach Jody Welch said after the Lightning’s win over Fairview Saturday. “Olivia does everything for us. Against Chatfield (on Jan. 5), she had a double-double and probably almost had a triple-double. She’s always consistent.”
Legacy is at Loveland Friday.
Class 5A
Green Mountain senior Jayda Maves: Maves’ torrid scoring output before the holiday break has only gotten an added boost this month.
Lifting her points per game average from 20.7 to 22.4, the senior has averaged more than 25 points in four games this month for the Rams (7-4), who entered the class rankings at No. 9 this week.
Maves had 34 points in a 54-40 win over Golden on Jan. 5, shooting 13 of 24 from the field.
As part of her strong scoring output this season, she has already connected from deep 39 times with four or more 3s in seven of her 11 games.
Green Mountain is home against Standley Lake Friday.
Sand Creek freshman Kennedy Spellman: Spellman is already a star, though for now it comes on a 2-7 team still looking to find some traction this year.
Spellman is second in the classification in points at 25 per game. Her scoring output over her last six games looks like this: 30, 21, 29, 28, 33 and 27.
Among an impressive start to her high school career has been a red-hot start from deep. She is shooting 40% from 3-point range and is 12 of 19 from behind the arc in her last two games.
The Scorpions are at Mitchell Thursday.
Class 4A
D’Evelyn junior Peyton Marvel: Aptly named, Marvel is fifth in the classification in points (17.9 per game), second in boards (12.8) and third in steals (5.4).
With her and Macy Scheer leading the way, the Cougars are off to a 12-0 start to the winter, their best start in at least 16 years.
In her latest game, Marvel had 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting in a 78-30 win over Evergreen Wednesday. She also had 13 rebounds, five steals and four assists.
The Jaguars host 5A Wheat Ridge Friday.
Summit senior Autumn Rivera: Rivera has been a consistent scoring threat for the Tigers (3-5), who seem to be slowly working themselves back from a 1-5 start to the year.
Rivera has averaged 17.6 points per game and 9.3 rebounds in eight games. She had 20 points in a 49-32 win over Basalt Tuesday, the Tigers’ second straight win.
Summit is at No. 9 Coal Ridge Friday.
