The scheduled nonconference boys and girls basketball game Tuesday night, Jan. 30, between Dolores County and Bayfield was postponed. And that postponement follows on another when the Bulldogs were scheduled to travel to Telluride for a Class 2A San Juan Basin League game last Saturday, Jan. 27.

The game at Bayfield was postponed because of a funeral of a BHS student. The league contest at Telluride was postponed because of heavy snowfall — more than two feet — in Telluride. The Bayfield game will now be played this Tuesday, Feb. 6. The Telluride game will now be played Feb. 13.

Both the DCHS boys and girls hosted Norwood on Friday night, Jan. 26, in games played in Ron Wright Memorial Gym at Montezuma-Cortez High School. The Bulldog girls won 42-37 while the boys lost 72-61.

In the boys’ contest, DCHS got off to a slow start, especially having problems shooting at the free throw line. The Bulldogs missed five shots in that period alone and only finished the game shooting less than 50 percent at 13-27 from the charity stripe.

"With us leading 11-9 we made a costly mistake, fouling a shooter past the three-point line," DCHS head boys coach Scott Crawford recalled. "He made two of the three to tie it at 11-all. That hurt because we could have been up by five or six had we also made some of those free throws. You can’t miss that many from the line and expect to win."

The game, though, was still close through the rest of the first half. The Mavericks led 29-25 at the break. The Bulldogs cut into the lead during the third quarter and trailed only 46-43. But thanks to some defensive lapses and having senior Chris Kail being ejected after receiving his second technical of the game, hurt the Bulldogs. Norwood outscored DCHS 26-18 in the fourth.

"We lost our composure in the fourth quarter. It was a close game until then. We were forced to foul towards the end of the game and they made their shots," Crawford added.

Incidentally, Norwood canned 22 of 28 from the line.

Ben Waddell was nearly unstoppable for Norwood. He gunned in 45 points. Keith Pierce led Dove Creek with 18 while Dallas Coker added 17 and Kail 10.

The evening started off on the right note as Dove Creek girls won.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick 12-2 lead after the first quarter.

"We played pretty good defense with a zone," DCHS first-year head girls coach Kim Young said.

DCHS continued playing well on both ends of the court and led 20-11 at the intermission. The teams played evenly in the third period, each scoring 10. Norwood came back and challenged the Bulldogs in the final quarter but it was too late. The Mavericks outscored Dove Creek 16-12.

"Our strategy was to stop Cassidy Haught (who had 29 of Norwoods 33 points against Mancos a week ago). That was the key and the girls did that. We finally got some of our shots to fall which helped us," she added.

Michelle Davis led DCHS with 14 while Rachel Hightower added 10 and Ann Fury nine. Haught finished with 12 points and Lacey Andrews added eight.

The Bulldogs were scheduled to face Monticello (Utah) JVs in a nonconference game played on Jan. 24. But they ended up playing the varsity instead. Monticello, which has had a good girls basketball program for many years, proved a little too tough as the Buckaroos won 52-41.

DCHS led 14-11 after first quarter but trailed 28-25 at the half. The Bucks outscored the Bulldogs 9-3 in the third period and 15-13 in the fourth.

"Monticello was tough. They have a good team. They would bring five players in and take five players out and then bring five players in and back out all game. They showed good depth," Young said.

Hightower led all scorers with 19. Fury and Shandra Johnson tossed in seven apiece. Ellie Seright and Hayley Boyle led Monticello with eight each.

The Bulldogs travel to Mancos on Saturday, Feb. 3, beginning at about 5:45 for the girls and the boys will follow. Dolores boys and girls visit Norwood also on Saturday.