District tournaments are beginning to take shape

District tournaments are beginning to take shape

Feb. 10, 2001

STAFF REPORT

There is still plenty of prep basketball action left in the regular season. But it everything is beginning to shake out. Post-season play is looming beginning next with pigtail games and then District play Feb. 22-24.

In Class 4A, Montezuma-Cortez High School boys and girls will be placed in the District VII Tournament, Feb. 23-24, at Mesa State College and at Grand Junction High. The Panther boys and girls it looks like are headed for a no. 2 seed in the event while Montrose will be seeded no. 7. Both MCHS and Montrose play in the mainly Class 5A Southwestern League during the season.

In Class 2A, the District III Tournament will be held in Ron Wright Memorial Gym at MCHS on Feb. 23-24. Dolores girls, currently undefeated at 16-0, will be the no. 1 seed while Nucla and Mancos are fighting it out for the no. 2 seed. Nucla boys will likely be the top seed with Mancos the no. 2 seed and Dolores the no. 3 seed. Dolores County boys and girls are both headed for the pigtail game.

Class 2A Dolores County boys and girls played a rescheduled game against nonconference Bayfield which had been postponed from a week ago because of a funeral of a BHS student on Tuesday night, Feb. 6.

There’s plenty of hoop action today, Feb. 10.

MCHS hosts Grand Junction High beginning at noon in SWL play. In San Juan Basin League action, Mancos visits Norwood while Dolores County goes to Nucla and Dolores hosts Telluride. Most of those games start around 5 p.m.

The Bulldog boys stayed close for much of the first half thanks to the shooting of Chris Kail and Keith Pierce. But the Wolverines came alive in the second-half and won 64-59.

The Bulldogs, who slipped to 2-12 overall, got solid play from Kail. He hit several three-pointers, several twos and four free throws for 19 first-half points. Pierce was a force underneath, chipping in nine more to put Dolores County down by just one at 36-35) at the half.

In the third quarter, neither team could gain much of lead. The lead, in fact, changed hands several times and the score was tied at 46-all when the third quarter ended.

But the momentum changed late in the fourth quarter with Bayfield gaining the advantage. The score changed hands several more times early. Bayfield’s Zack Martinez made an old-fashioned three-point play which powered the Wolverines’ to their eventual win. BHS went on a big run and the game was pretty much over.

Pierce continued to play in the second half, scoring most of DCHS’ points. He finished with 26. Kail added four more to his first-half total and ended with 23.

The BHS girls beat DCHS 56-39 in the preliminary contest.

The Bulldogs played well the first half. The Wolverines jumped out to a quick lead and then had to hold on. BHS led 23-16 at the half. But DCHS was not done yet. They tightened down their defensive play and pulled within 35-30 after three periods were in the books. DCHS ran out of gas in the fourth. The Wolverines outscored the Bulldogs 21-9 in the quarter.

The Bulldogs ended the game with three girls doing most of the scoring. Michelle Davis led the way with 13, Rachel Hightower tossed in 11 and Shandra Johnson 10.