BOULDER - After three quarters of slowdown, ball-control basketball, the Legacy Lightning and the Regis Raiders packed a heck of a lot of excitement into the fourth.

So much so that they needed an extra period to decide it.

When the dust settled, Legacy had pulled out a 53-48 victory at the Coors Events Center, knocking out the overall No. 1 seed, a team that had not lost an in-state game this season.

Melissa Jones, the Lightning's all-Colorado senior guard, scored seven of her game-high 27 points in the extra period to propel Legacy to its first state championship game in school history.

The victory was especially sweet for Jones, who will attend Baylor next fall. Her grandfather, Wally Kimble, had died earlier in the day.

"He hasn't missed a game this season and he still hasn't," said Jones, who also had 16 rebounds and five steals. "He's still up there watching us."

Regis, which had won 22 straight games, seemed to capture momentum when T'Keyah Shelley grabbed a loose ball and hit a layup with five seconds to play in regulation to send the game into overtime.

And then the Raiders took a 41-40 lead midway through the extra period on another Shelley layup. But Jones controlled the action after that, hitting a one- handed runner to put Legacy back on top, and then converting five of six foul shots down the stretch.

"On any given night, anything can happen, and I think that's what happened tonight," said Jones, who was 14-for-16 from the free-throw line. "Just the fact that everyone was doubting us made us play that much harder to prove everyone wrong."

Both teams played it pretty close to the vest during the first half, with Legacy taking a 15-14 lead into halftime. The Lightning was able to shut down Regis' up- tempo attack, as the Raiders only managed one fast-break basket.

The Raiders also were successful in keeping Jones in check. She scored eight points and was only 2-for-7 from the floor. Quincey Noonan had a big half for Legacy, scoring three points and grabbing seven rebounds. The 5-foot- 8 Noonan also recorded a blocked shot, getting a piece of 6- 3 Diana Rolniak's layup attempt in the second quarter.

"The other night (in the quarterfinals), we couldn't miss a shot - (Wednesday night), we couldn't make a shot," Regis coach Carl Mattei said. "They packed in a zone after the first quarter after they saw we were cold, and we kept throwing in different lineups and different kids to try and make a shot, and we couldn't find anybody hot."

Regis......9	5	2	22	10	-	48
Legacy......9	6	4	19	15	-	53

R - Mariah Williams 2 4-4 8, Diana Rolniak 1 2-2 4, Megan O'Dorisio 1 0-0 2, Kelsey Roben 0 0-0 0, Mary Bokenkamp 2 0-0 6, T'Keyah Shealy 3 1-2 7, Meghan Winters 2 0-0 5, Mindy Nielson 6 3-4 16. Totals 17 10-12 48.

L - Breana Mathews 0 0-0 0, Mara Cosgrove 1 6-8 8, Cassie Long 1 1-2 4, Melissa Jones 6 14-16 27, Shelby Babcock 0 1-2 1, Kara Morton 0 0-0 0, Quincey Noonan 3 7-14 13. Totals 11 29-42 53.

Three-point goals - R, Bokenkamp 2, Winters, Nielson; L, Long, Jones.

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