Dolores girls, ranked 7th, open defense of SJL title

Dolores girls, ranked 7th, open defense of SJL title

Jan. 13, 2001

STAFF REPORT

The Dolores High School girls varsity basketball team have not missed a step since losing a majority of their starters (graduation) off last year’s fourth-place (Class 2A State Basketball Tournament) team and the sudden resignation of head coach Greg Buffington.

The Bears are currently undefeated with a 7-0 mark after completing most of their preseason schedule under first-year head coach Rob Mellott. They are coming off a 55-40 nonconference win over Ignacio on Tuesday night, Jan. 9, at IHS Gym. Dolores is ranked as high seventh among Class 2A teams across Colorado.

Ignacio, which fell to 6-3, was coming off a four-game winning streak. The Bobcats trailed 17-15 after the first quarter. Dolores took advantage of several turnovers and outrebounded the Bobcats to jump out front 33-25 at halftime. The run-and-gun Bears dominated the third quarter and outpointed Ignacio 12-7 to take a 45-32 lead when the buzzer sounded.

The Bears will open defense of their San Juan Basin League title beginning at 2 p.m. today, Jan. 13, at Norwood.

The Montezuma-Cortez High School varsity girls basketball team is ready to begin action this weekend in Southwestern League play.

The Panthers host Central of Grand Junction at noon today in Ron Wright Memorial Gym. The boys will play immediately following.

MCHS has struggled lately, losing two of their last three games. The most recent setback came at home against larger Farmington High 44-35. The Panthers were 3-6 going into their league opener against Fruita-Monument Friday night.

"We got off to a slow start," Cortez first-year head coach Stan Yake said. "We didn’t get into our offense until the third quarter. We played a normal strong defense, but we just didn’t get good looks on offense."

Cortez trailed 11-8 at the end of the first quarter and were down2 26-14 at the intermission. Farmington led 30-26 at the end of the third when MCHS made a comeback.

"We played catchup most of the fourth quarter. We were forced to foul the final two minutes and unfortunately, they (Scorpions) made most of their shots," he added.

Shantel Adams popped in 13 and April Ledsma added 10 for Farmington. Denise Newlin and Casey Bauer each scored 13 for MCHS.