Regis Jesuit girls rich beyond phenom Belibi

Carl Mattei had some superbly talented teams in his 15 seasons as the girls basketball coach at Regis Jesuit.

In 2009, the Raiders won the state title with seven eventual NCAA Division I college players, and the school topped the Class 5A field in 2013 and again in 2014 with six Division I recruits on a team that finished ranked third in the nation.

But this fall’s Raiders may be Mattei’s best team yet — and that’s not simply because they have phenom Fran Belibi, who made waves last season by becoming the first girl in state history to dunk and has since established herself as one of the country’s top high school players.

“I’ve had two Gatorade players of the year, but Francesca is truly special,” Mattei said. “I’ve never, in my 32 years of coaching girls, coached an athlete such as herself, and I’ve coached high school Allamericans like Erlana Larkins, Simone Augustus — some of the best players on the Olympic team, and they weren’t like her.”

Mattei knows Belibi gives the Raiders once-in-a-generation star power, but what has him most hopeful about this year’s team is the fact that his roster — like the Regis Jesuit championship teams of the not-toodistant past — has the most depth of any program in the state considering he’ll suit up five other eventual Division I athletes, with several more future college recruits coming off the bench.

Beyond Belibi, senior center Noelle Cahill (Penn commit), senior shooting forward Olivia Ayers (Loyola New Orleans commit), junior guard Jasmine Gaines (weighing multiple Division I offers), junior forward Sidney Weigand (Army lacrosse commit) and sophomore point guard Jada Moore (already several Pac-12 and Big Ten offers) round out the Raiders’ core.

But Mattei said he’s already reminded his players several times about one of his uber-talented teams that ended up falling short of its ultimate goal.

“I told the kids that there’s a lot of similarities between them and my 2008 team — I had nine Division I kids on one high school team, and I reminded them that 2008 team started the season ranked fifth in the country and we didn’t win state that year,” Mattei said. “This team has that type of talent, but it’s going to take a lot of work throughout the season to get the chemistry we need to win a title.”

Keying that chemistry will be three highly touted freshmen in reserve, as guard Avery Van Sickle (already fielding offers from all Power Five conferences), guard Gracie Weigand (highly touted lacrosse recruit like her sister) and forward Samantha Jones (6-1 with huge upside inside) must mesh with the Raiders’ returners that led them to the semifinals last season.

“If I get my three freshmen to buy in — and if I get those older girls to accept them — we’ll be very talented,” Mattei said.

Other top 5A teams are sure to challenge Regis Jesuit come the second week of March at the Denver Coliseum.

Defending champion Grandview has reloaded, Lakewood boasts the 6-5 Emsbo twins, Cherry Creek and Castle View possess multiple Division I recruits in their lineups, Highlands Ranch returns every starter, and other programs such as Ralston Valley, Horizon and Fairview possess varying combinations of size and skill.

Even still, it seems as if the championship odds are tilted toward Regis Jesuit.

“Fran is almost an unstoppable player, like Grandview’s Michaela Onyenwere was last year,” Mattei said. “Teams had to put so much defensive emphasis on Michaela that (Grandview’s) Leilah Vigil played like an All-american. That’s what I have, because Fran’s going to make my other girls play like All-americans.”