It had been six long years since D’Evelyn’s girls basketball team had walked off the court with a victory over Golden.
In front of a standing-room-only crowd Friday, Jan. 30, at D’Evelyn Junior/Senior High School, senior Krystal Pittman was the most relieved Jaguar in the gym. The drought finally ended with D’Evelyn (14-4, 6-2 in Class 4A Jeffco League) scoring an impressive 65-40 victory over its rival.
“It feels good. We just wanted to come in with a lot of confidence tonight,” said Pittman, who scored a game-high 23 points. “We wanted to just play our game, not let the crowd change things. This was definitely our biggest crowd for us this year.”
Being the first game of the varsity girls-boys doubleheader, the gym was packed with students from both schools by halftime.
“Girls’ games just don’t get this size of crowd,” D’Evelyn coach Chris Olson said. “We had a shaky start. The big crowd was part of that I think.”
Golden (5-13, 2-6) actually took a 3-0 lead with a 3-pointer from freshman Kylie Santos. D’Evelyn’s pressure defense buckled down forcing 12 turnovers in the first quarter. The Jaguars went on a 12-0 run to end the first quarter, taking a commanding 18-6 lead.
While Pittman led the charge with eight points, freshman Madalyn Neely poured in five of her 12 points in the first eight minutes. D’Evelyn’s biggest lead came early in the fourth quarter with a 51-23 margin. Eight different Jaguars scored in the victory.
“Our team has really stepped up this year,” Pittman said.
Golden dropped its sixth straight game. Sophomore Shannon Seery was the lone Demon to reach double-digits. She finished with 15 points.
Sophomore Brianna Pittman showed what the future holds for the Jaguars’ program. Krystal’s younger sister put an exclamation point on the game, scoring eight straight points for D’Evelyn in a span of three minutes of the fourth quarter. Brianna Pittman’s most impressive shot was a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc.
“She (Brianna) can shoot it,” Krystal Pittman said. “She is going to be a huge factor for the next few years.”
Olson would like to see the Jaguars be a factor in the 4A state tournament. D’Evelyn sits in third place in the conference standings behind Conifer and Centaurus. The Jaguars lost to both the Lobos and Warriors, but will get another shot against Conifer at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9.
Despite making the climb up the league ladder and hosting a playoff game last season, Olson still believes D’Evelyn is being overlooked.
“We’ve got really good talent,” Olson said. “I don’t know if people think we are overachievers. I think we are a little underappreciated.”