By Jim Thomas

According to preseason polls for the Class 2A girls basketball, Dolores was ranked no. 4. They certainly showed that lofty early ranking was no fluke after beating three AAA teams in a row to capture the annual Cedaredge Tournament championship last Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 2-4.

"They played very well," Dolores head coach Greg Buffington said of his girls play in the round-robin format tourney. "I was very pleased with them."

The Bears took on Paonia in the opening game and crushed them 88-49. Dolores, who was forced to play without starting point guard Tiffany Boone who was injured, had no trouble. Jennifer Trevillian filled in nicely at that key spot.

After leading 17-14 after the first period, the Bears outscored Paonia 32-6 in the second quarter.

"Our press hurt them. They had a tough time breaking it," he reported. "We broke out of it in the second half to work on our half-court trap and 2-3 zone matchup."

Dolores outscored them 15-14 in the third quarter and 24-15 in the fourth period.

Tegan Brown led the way with 29 points, Brianna Hanson scored 17, Ruthie Martin 10, and Lindy Fredrick and Ashley Reed 7 each. Martin and Hanson grabbed 10 rebounds each. Martin passed out 9 assists and Trevillian 7.

In the semifinals the Bears blasted host Cedaredge 60-22. They really played well both offensively and defensively in the first and third periods. They led 14-5 after the first and outscored them 13-2 in the third.

Hanson led in points with 22. Brown chipped in 13, Trevillion 8, and Martin 5.

"We got off to a quick start to open the game and came back strong coming out of the locker at the half," Buffington added.

Defensively, the Bears limited Cedaredge to only three field goals in the whole game. They got the rest of their points at the line.

In the title game, Dolores crushed Hotchkiss 59-40. Dolores again got off to a quick start by taking a 17-6 lead. They got into foul trouble in the second period and were outscored 10-7 but the Bears still led 24-16 at the intermission. Dolores came out strong in the third quarter, outscoring Hotchkiss 24-8 and coasted from there.

Brown led the way with 25 points and Hanson netted 15.

Kayla Erickson grabbed 10 rebounds while Hanson and Martin picked up 8 each. Martin passed out 9 assists and Trevillion 8.

"Through our first three games, we did learn we have a lot of depth. We can play 10 or 11 girls this season. That’s really nice," Buffington added.

The Dolores boys struggled at the Cedaredge Tournament, losing 95-65 to Paonia, 87-54 to Cedaredge, and 99-49 to Hotchkiss.

Against Paonia, the Bears were just getting used to their new system under new head coach Todd Wynne. They struggled with their rotation on offense but played much better in the second half, he reported.

Dolores trailed 19-12 at the end of the first half and was down 53-32 at the half. They played the third quarter almost even but was outpointed 16-9 in the fourth.

Mike Ryan led the way with 21 points, Cody Beever chipped in 10, and Justin Schmidt and Levi Frye 9 apiece. Schmidt dished out 10 assists.

The Bears played better the next night against host Cedaredge. Cedaredge led 17-8 at the end of the first period and was up 46-23 at the half. At one point in the second half, Dolores trailed by only six but Cedaredge hit two 3s after that. Cedaredge outscored Dolores 41-31 in the second half.

"It was a rough night," Wynne said. "We got pounded on the boards. But what really hurt us is we made 26 turnovers coming off lack of offensive execution and young mistakes."

Hotchkiss dominated the Bears in the final game. Hotchkiss led 33-14 at the end of the first period and was ahead 66-25 at the intermission. The Bulldogs coasted in the second half.

Frye popped in 12 points, Ryan 11, and Schmidt 10 to go along with his six assists.

"I’m happy with the kids because they never gave up. They were diving on the floor after the ball even when we were way behind. The kids know they are learning a new way of doing things and they are upbeat and excited about the season," Wynne remarked about the tourney and the 0-3 start.

The Bears (boys and girls) travel to Bayfield this Friday, Dec. 10.

Mancos High School varsity girls got things started on Dec. 2 at Monticello, Utah. What a way to get things started as the game went into double overtime and nearly a third overtime before the final outcome was decided. The Blue Jays lost a heartbreaker 47-46 to an always good Buckaroo team.

"Our girls tied the score with 15 seconds to go in the second overtime. Monticello went ahead with a free throw with seven seconds remaining. We got an opportunity to score but we missed the shot. We got the rebound but the buzzer went off before we could get it in the hole," MHS head coach Kevin Dimmick recalled.

The game was nip-and-tuck all the way in regulation. Monticello led 7-6 at the end of the first quarter. The Blue Jays outscored the Bucks 9-6 in the second period to take a 15-13 at the half.

"It was a close game all the way. We had some opportunities to win in regulation," he noted.

Mancos tossed in 11 and Monticello 10 in the third period. But the Bucks outpointed the Blue Jays 13-10 in the fourth. At the end of regulation the score was tied 36-all. Dimmick said for the two overtime periods Mancos scored 10 and Monticello 11.

"During regulation two of our seniors fouled out. We had to put in some young players at the end of the game. They (youngsters) figured out in a hurry what pressure is all about. Decisions had to be made on the floor and they did pretty good at making some good ones. It was quite a game for the first game of the season," Dimmick added.

Kristin Paxton gunned in 17 points and Carrie Morgan 10 for Mancos. The Mancos boys opened the season by hosting Aztec, N.M. JVs on Dec. 4 in the Mancos Performance Center. Mancos won easily 92-36.

Mancos completely dominated most every aspects of the game. They led 24-3 at the end of the first period and were up 46-16 at the half. They outscored the Tigers 19-6 in the third quarter and 27-14 in the fourth.

"We had lay-up practice," Mancos coach Gary Hill said. "They (Tigers) could not handle our press. We got a lot of turnovers off it. We didn’t have to set it up very often and we took only one 3. "

Gary Baker led the way with 25 points, Jesse Rousset scored 19, Bill Baker 14, Ray Thomas 13, and Travis Clark 11.

"It wasn’t a perfect performance but I’m certainly proud of them. I thought they executed our press offense very well," he added.

The Blue Jays dominated the boards. Every thing the Tigers threw up and missed, the Jays got.

In a non-conference game played Tuesday night, Dec. 7, the Mancos boys fell to 1-1 after dropping a 63-54 to Ignacio.

The Bobcats led only 17-14 at the end of the first quarter but increased the advantage to 36-24 at the half. They held a comfortable lead the rest of the game. Lupe Herrera had a double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds for the Bobcats.

The Mancos girls, meanwhile, also had a tough time and lost 53-47 to fall to 0-2. The teams played evenly until the third quarter when Ignacio stepped it up and Mancos didn’t, according to Dimmick.

"Basically, we stayed with them until the third quarter. The girls have got to step it up and play with a little more intensity. We have got to go out and play 32 minutes of basketball. We also made only 5 points from the line while they made 21. The difference was they made their shots at the line and we didn’t," Dimmick added.