BY JIM THOMAS

GRAND JUNCTION — Three area high school hoop teams will be trying to advance to the next level (read: Class 2A State Basketball Tournament) today, March 4, as Dolores girls, Mancos girls, and Dolores County boys compete in the Western Regionals at Grand Junction High School.

Undefeated and no. 3 ranked Dolores girls, sporting a perfect 21-0 record, will take on the Tigers at 10 a.m. The Dolores County boys, 17-4 under first-year coach Scott Crawford, take to the court against the Cardinals at 1:45 a.m. The Mancos girls, 12-10, will take the hardwoods at about 1:30 p.m. against the Mustangs. The final game will be Nucla boys against West Grand. All the games will be played at Grand Junction High School, 1400 N. 5th St. In past years it has been held at Palisade High School but not this year. Don Story will do play-by-play for all games on 740 KVFX-AM.

Dolores girls won the District III title this past Saturday, Feb. 26, with a 52-49 win over Mancos in the championship game held at Montezuma-Cortez High School. By winning the crown, the Bears were awarded the first seed. Hayden is the no. 2 seed from District V. Mancos, the no. 2 seed with a record of 12-10, earned the right to meet the Mustangs, the champs from District V.

Members of the Dolores team are: 5-foot-8 sophomore forward Jennifer Trevillian, 5-6 guard Lindy Fredrick, 5-7 senior guard Shelly Rhodes, 5-5 senior guard Tegan Brown, 5-7 junior guard Amber Simmons, 5-10 sophomore forward Amanda Cross, 6-0 senior post Kayla Erickson, 5-8 freshman forward Ashley Reed, 5-8 senior forward April LeBlanc, 5-5 senior guard Tiffany Boone, 5-5 senior guard Ruthie Martin, and 6-0 senior post Brianna Hanson. The head coach is Greg Buffington and he is assisted by Rob Mellott and Lana (Frye) Berry.

"We don’t have any film (videotape) on them but we played them last year at Regionals and they have most of their team back again," Buffington said. "They are very physical and a little bigger than we are. But we still match up fairly well.

"They don’t like to run and would rather play a half-court game. We will press them and try to get them into a running game. We would rather extend the whole 90 feet and get some transition baskets."

Buffington reported he has been working on basics this week.

"We have gone back to the drawing board. We are working on basic fundamentals. We have got to execute both offensively and defensively. We have got to get rebounds and make good passes," he added.

Buffington reported everyone on his team is healthy and ready to go. He will likely go with his usual starting lineup of Boone, Brown, Martin, LeBlanc, and Hanson.

The Mancos team members are: 5-5 sophomore guard Amy Smith, 5-7 junior guard Amanda Kennedy, 5-7 senior guard Rene Davis, 5-7 freshman guard/forward Jolene Thomas, 5-11 senior center Melissa Keller, 5-7 junior guard Kerri Morgan, 5-8 senior forward Kristin Paxton, 5-10 sophomore guard Katie Paxton, 5-10 senior center Erica Russell, 5-10 senior forward Randee Reider, and 5-9 sophomore forward/post Rachel Russell. The head coach is Kevin Dimmick and his assisted by Jill Hutcheson.

"They have three big girls all around 6-feet," Dimmick reported. "They like to play power basketball inside. They run a 1-1-3 zone and will do full and half-court sideline traps. They have pretty good speed but they are not great ball handlers.

"We will pack the zone to try and shut off the big girls because they don’t have great outside shooters and we will press their ball handlers."

Dimmick reported Reider has a broken bone in her foot (discovered at the District III Tournament) and is now in a cast. Erica Russell is still out with a knee injury and will not play. He will probably start Davis, Keller, Morgan, and both Paxton girls.

The Dolores County boys lost to Nucla 53-47 in the championship game of the District III tournament, also on Saturday night in Ron Wright Memorial Gym. The Bulldogs (17-4), who have not advanced to Regionals in more than a decade, got no. 1 Grand Valley from District V. In the final game of today, District III champ Nucla takes on West Grand.

The Dolores County team members are: 5-5 junior guard Chris Kail, 6-0 junior center/forward Jarrod Wyatt, 5-5 senior guard Ron Ernst, 6-10 junior forward Frankie Ogo, 5-10 sophomore forward Michael Ogo, 5-11 sophomore forward Lyle Joe, 6-3 junior forward/post Terence Gardner, 5-6 sophomore guard Dallas Coker, 6-0 senior forward Justin Wyatt, 5-10 junior forward Michael Nielson, and 6-4 sophomore center Keith Pierce. The team is coached by first-year head man Scott Crawford and assisted by Tom Felkins.

"I have not seen a video of them play," Crawford said. "But from what I understand they have two pretty good players (5-11 guard/forward Rusty Angel and 6-0 guard Jake Higman. They like to shoot the threes. Higman has made 44 of them this season. Defensively, they play a 1-3-1 matchup zone like Mancos utilizes.

"This week were are working on basics. We have not done that for a while. We are working on some our defensive schemes and other things we do as a team. We are especially working on some of our out-of-bounds plays."

Crawford said everyone is healthy although Jarrod Wyatt was sick a day with the flu bug. He will probably go with a starting lineup of Kail, Gardner, Pierce, and the Wyatts.