Melissa Jones spent most of Friday morning battling dizziness and nausea; she spent a good portion of the evening making the Air Academy Kadets sick.

Jones, a senior at Legacy, scored 37 points, grabbed nine rebounds, had eight steals and three blocked shots to lead the top-seeded Lightning to a 64-55 victory against Air Academy in the Class 5A state quarterfinals at the Denver Coliseum.

Legacy (23-3) advanced to Wednesday night's final four at the Coors Events Center, where it will meet Regis (25-1). Air Academy ended its season at 24-2.

Jones, who has a scholarship to Baylor, said her symptoms came and went throughout the day, but she felt fine once she hit the court.

"I think the game kind of took it off my mind," said Jones, who went 11-for-14 from the free-throw line. "It went away once we started to play."

After the Kadets scored the first points on an Allison Drescher free throw, Jones and freshman Quincey Noonan combined for an 8-0 run that put the Lightning up for good.

Legacy eventually led by 15 in the second quarter, but Air Academy managed to stay in it until the end. Hayley Hollenga scored 11 of her team-high 15 in the second half, and Kaeleigh Helsham's midrange jumper had the lead down to 60-55 with 51 seconds to play.

Jones came up with two steals and Noonan picked off another in the final 40 seconds to help Legacy hold off the comeback attempt.

"They have a great player in Jones, and we didn't do enough to slow her down," Air Academy coach Ivan Chambers said. "We didn't play our best, I know that, but you have to attribute that to Legacy."

The Lightning also got a couple of clutch baskets from Mara Cosgrove in the second half, including a three-pointer in the fourth that halted a Kadets run, and Legacy's defense forced 20 turnovers.

"(Air Academy) kept hitting shots and they kept falling," said Cosgrove, who finished with eight points. "It was very nerve-wracking but I knew we could pull through."

Air Academy......10	9	20	16	-	55
Legacy......17	11	19	17	-	64

AA - Krista Cone 3 4-8 11, Meghan Hollenga 0 0-0 0, Wendy Sherman 4 2-2 10, Hayley Hollenga 7 0-1 15, Allison Drescher 3 2-3 8, Joy Stanley 0 1-2 1, Kaeleigh Helsham 3 4-5 10. Totals 20 13-21 55.

L - Breana Mathews 0 3-4 3, Mara Cosgrove 3 1-1 8, Cassie Long 1 0-0 3, Melissa Jones 12 11-14 37, Shelby Babcock 0 0-0 0, Kara Morton 0 2-2 2, Quincey Noonan 4 3-6 11, Kellen Wittkop 0 0-3 0. Totals 20 20-30 64.

Three-point goals - AA, H. Hollenga, Cona; L, Jones 2, Cosgrove, Long. Fouled out - Cona, M. Hollenga, Stanley.

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