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Jan. 23, 2001
BY JIM THOMAS Dolores High School varsity girls basketball team ran their record to 11-0 with a pair of Class 2A San Juan Basin League wins Friday and Saturday, Jan. 19-20. The Bears, who are ranked fifth, defeated Dolores County 62-35 Saturday afternoon at home and beat Telluride 61-40 Friday night. It was a very physical girls’ game between Dolores and visiting Dolores County. It was so physical that the referees whistled the Bears for 26 fouls and the Bulldogs for 32. Although Dolores led the whole way, Dolores County stayed right with them for much of the game. The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick 5-0 early in the first quarter, thanks to a layup by Rachel Hightower and a three-pointer by her a few seconds later. It wasn’t until Jennifer Trevillian tied the game at 5-5 with 2:01 to play. Dove Creek pressed on defense and forced several turnovers. But the Bulldogs could not get any buckets to fall. Just before the quarter ended, Amanda Cross hit from the wing to put Dolores up 10-6. Dolores started the second quarter with a 5-0 run to take a 15-6 with 6:47 showing in the second period. Dolores tightened down a zone defense which forced the Bulldogs to shoot from outside. They missed many of those until Michelle Davis nailed a three-point goal for DCHS. But the Bears led 24-12. Dolores played hard and went up 32-15 when Joni Everett made a putback with 30 seconds left. Dolores led 32-18 when the half ended. Turnovers plagued DCHS but the Bulldogs did managed to trim the difference to 32-22 with four straight points at the 3:07 mark. It was still the same score with 1:24 to play. Each team scored six points for the quarter. Dolores led 38-34 when it was over. Dolores pressed the Bulldogs early in the fourth. The play continued to be physical. Ashley Reed hit the floor hard and had to be taken to get her ankle X-rayed at the 7:07 mark. Trevillian, the team’s leading scorer, fouled out with 11 points with 6:37 to play. Dolores County ended up having four players (Davis, Erin Ivie, Nikie Hassell, and Hightower) disqualified by the time the quarter ended. "We played better in the second half," DHS head girls coach Rob Mellott said following the game. "We came off a tough road trip (to Telluride) but we didn’t play well here tonight. It seems like we don’t play very well when we have a game the night before and I don’t know why. Our intensity level just wasn’t up." DCHS girls head coach Kim Young was pleased with her girls’ effort despite the loss. "All the way to the end the girls played hard and they did their job," Young said after the game. "We had too many turnovers and had way too many fouls. It was hard to get anything going. How can you with that many fouls? Dolores has a good team so you can’t take anything away from them. But I thought we played really tough today and they gave 100 percent." Tracy Everett finished with 10 points while Joni Everett, McKenzie Reed, and Ashley Reed chipped in 7. Hightower scored 15 for DCHS. The boys’ game was not nearly as physical. After missing a few shots early and throwing the ball away, Dolores settled down. Justin Schmitt put the Bears up for good at 6-4. Dolores led 10-6 when the first quarter ended. The Bears were soon running and gunning and out to a 13-9 lead thanks to a layup by Cullen Zion. Dolores County was getting some good looks at the basket when it was on offense. Dove Creek’s Chris Kail hit a three and a deuce. Waylon Bennett put Dolores up 22-16 after missing and then following his shot with 3:17 showing. The Bears then outscored DCHS 10-2 and led 32-18 at the intermission. Keith Pierce, who had three fouls in the first half, came out and made a nice putback but DCHS trailed 38-25. Dolores made several turnovers when DCHS went to a 1-2-2 zone. Dolores led 41-29 with 2:59 showing. Schmitt ran the whole length of the floor to take a 43-29 lead. The Bears led 38-24 at the end of three quarters. The Bulldogs, though, were playing right into the Bears’ game. They tried to run and stay with them. Dolores was able to get several easy layups, many by Zion. Zion put Dolores up 59-39. Dove Creek made a slight run but Dolores stretched its lead back to 20 at 63-43 when Garrett Nielson made a layup. "I thought it was our best offensive performance of the season," DHS boys head coach Todd Wynne said. "We ran our offense very well. A key was getting all those rebounds. Positioning is what gets them. Tonight was a good game for us. These kids have something to prove to Dolores and not our opponents in that they play hard and work hard." Zion led the way with 28 points, Schmitt tossed in 16, and Bennett 10. Kail led DCHS with 12, and Pierce added 10. "The open shots were there," Zion said after the game. "We ran well and I got a lot of easy layups especially in the fourth quarter." On Friday night at Telluride, the Dolores girls led 12-8 at the end of the first quarter and went up 31-16 at the intermission. The Bears outscored the Miners 32-28 in the second quarter. Tracy Everett led Dolores with 20 points and 11 rebounds for a double double. Trevillian also had a double double for Dolores with 15 points and 10 assists. Sarah Nielson added 11. Chelsey Padilla popped in 21 and Erin Alegria 11 for Telluride. "It started out just like the first part of this game," Mellott reported. "After sitting around for five hours, we came out sluggish. We finally got to playing and picked up the tempo." The Dolores boys took their run-and-gun show to Telluride and smoked the Miners. The Bears led 21-15 at the end of the first quarter and held a commanding 40-27 lead at the half. They outpointed Telluride 31-24 in the second half. Dolores got balanced scoring as Kevin Fane dumped in 18, Zion 17, Bennett 14, Schmitt 11, and Aeson Reed 11. The Bulldogs visited Nucla on Friday night. The DCHS boys lost 55-32 while the girls fell 83-27. The Mustangs led 10-4 at the end of the first period and stretched its lead to 29-13 at the half. Nucla outscored Dove Creek 26-19 in the second half. Pierce scored nine, Lyle Joe eight, and Dallas Coker seven. Chris Robuck led Nucla with 19. "I thought our defensive effort was pretty good," DCHS head boys coach Scott Crawford reported. "They got a lot of points off cherry picks. Our offensive effort is still lacking. We are getting good shots but just not making them." The DCHS girls were simply overwhelmed. Nucla led 23-6 at the end of the first period and led 41-13 at the break. The Mustangs coasted in the second half by outscoring the Bulldogs 42-14. Fury popped in six and Davis eight. Mancos, meanwhile, hosted Norwood Friday night and visited Nucla on Saturday in SJBL action. Perhaps the most interesting game was between Mancos girls and Norwood girls Friday in the Mancos Performance Center. With 1.6 seconds left on the clock, Rachel Russell calmly made a short jump shot which gave the Blue Jays a 35-33 win over the Mavericks. Cassidy Haught, who ended up scoring 29 of Norwood’s 33 points, put the Mavs up 31-29. A few seconds later Mancos was ahead at 33-31 when Kerri Morgan hit two straight from the floor with 1:33 left in the fourth quarter. Haught came back hit from the lane to tie it at 33 with 1:01 showing. Katie Paxton tried a shot from the key but it hit the rim and bounced off. Norwood got the ball back and called time with 35 seconds left. Norwood shot but missed and the Blue Jays got the ball back. Mancos’ Amanda Kennedy shot missed and Norwood grabbed the rebound and then traveled. MHS called time with 16.5 seconds left. Mancos worked the ball and got the ball to Russell who made the shot that barely cleared over the rim and dropped through. "She made a nice shot and we got lucky at the end and that’s the way it goes," MHS head girls coach Kevin Dimmick remarked following the game. "We needed that win. We have things we still need to work on such as pressuring the ball more." Norwood took a 4-0 lead when Haught made the first two points. Russell tied the game with a shot from the wing at 6-6. Mancos led 8-6 when the quarter ended. Morgan canned a three to open the second quarter. Norwood pulled close when Mary Wells made it 13-12. Norwood then scored the next four points to take a 16-13 lead with 3:36 to play. Norwood stretched the lead to 20-13 with 1:58. Mancos trailed 20-17 at the half. "We didn’t move and pass well at all for two quarters. That’s when Norwood got a little momentum. They made an adjustment and got the ball into the big girls (Haught). When we play them again that is something we are going to have to correct. But overall it was a great win and good one to watch," he added. Neither team could get much going in the third period. Mancos used a zone press early in the period which confused the Mavericks for a short time. Russell made a putback which pulled the Blue Jays to 20-19. Haught put Norwood ahead 24-21. Norwood led 24-23 when the quarter ended. Morgan paced Mancos with 11 while Kennedy and Russell added eight each. Norwood was missing starter Lancie Marolf who blew out a knee during last week’s practice. The Mancos boys blew Norwood away in the third period and coasted in the final quarter to win 77-65 Friday night. The Blue Jays had a good night at the free line which proved to be Norwood’s down fall. After making six of eight attempts in the first half, they Jays connected on 18 of 26 in the second half. Travis Clark put Mancos up 8-4 early in the first quarter. Daniel Grimes gave Norwood a brief lead 9-8 with 4:21 left. It was tied at 16-16 with 32.3 seconds left. Mancos led 18-16 when the quarter ended. Jamie Spor gave Norwood at 19-18 lead when the made a three-pointer to open the second quarter. The game was tied again at 24-all. Then Mancos slowly started pulling away and led 33-26 when Kelley Smith made a follow. The Jays led 33-28 at the break. Bill Baker made an old-fashioned three-point play which put Mancos up 38-30 with 6:12 on the clock in the third quarter. Jesse Rousset muscled in a shot from underneath which gave the Jays a 44-32 advantage. Mancos started playing better defense and applied the pressure. The Jays converted several turnovers into points. Mancos led 56-41 at the end of the quarter. Norwood went on a 5-0 run to start the fourth. Mancos, though, kept its composure and started running. Hill cleared his bench. "We started playing better defense in the second half," Mancos coach Gary Hill said after the game. "We also played better on offense. We started making our passes and after playing better defense a lot of good things started happening. We started playing like a team. When we are one against the world we don’t do much but when we play as a team we are pretty hard to beat. I was pleased with our second half and the kids did a good job." Baker gunned in a game-high 25 points. Rousset added 13, Smith 12, and Clint Hill and Clark added eight each. Grimes led Norwood with 17 and Spor added 16. Mancos visited Nucla on Saturday but the Mustangs won the girls’ game 46-39. Nucla led 5-4 at the end of the first quarter and 15-14 at the half. Nucla outscored Mancos 13-8 in the third quarter and that was just about the difference in the game. Nucla outpointed Mancos 18-17 in the final quarter. Morgan led the way with 11 while Kennedy and Cambria Hanson chipped in six apiece. "We were down by only four points with a minute to go but we couldn’t do anything after that. But I was still pleased with our effort," Dimmick added. Mancos lost 71-48 at Nucla on Saturday. "We played a good first quarter and then we let up on defense and they hit a lot from those holes," Hill reported. "We just did not play very well. Nucla stepped it up and we didn’t." Rousset tossed in 13, Baker 12, and Smith 11 for Mancos. Chris Roebuck and Josh Hainey each scored 20 for Nucla. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal.
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