DENVER – Putting a bow on the 2021 winter sports seasons, the Colorado High School Activities Association named its All-State teams for the recently completed basketball campaign.
Capping stellar seasons, three Dove Creek Bulldogs, headlined by 1A Second Team selection Grace Hatfield, joined Mancos’ Connor Showalter on the state’s highest honor roll.
The senior-led Bulldog girls program compiled a season to remember, as Hatfield and classmate Kobie Beanland, who earned an all-state honorable mention nod, ran a dominant backcourt for Dove Creek. While amassing a 14-1 record, and a trip to the Great Eight in the 1A classification, Hatfield and Beanland gave opponents fits with their high-pressing defense and tremendous court awareness.
Hatfield led the league in scoring, averaging nearly 21 points per contest, capping her career among the Dove Creek greats by amassing over 1,400 points in her career. She also added five steals per game to help guide the program to its first unbeaten season in the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League since 2008-09.
Beanland stuffed the stat sheet on a nightly basis, scoring eight points per outing in her final season with the Bulldogs, while also leading the team in assists. Along with Hatfield, Beanland jumped right into the varsity rotation from her first days as a freshman, and helped guide the Bulldogs to one of its winningest stretches in program history, with a 61-19 cumulative record over four years.
On the boys side, Dove Creek emerged as a contender in the 2A/1A SJBL, thanks in large part to the stellar sophomore campaign of Kade Hankins. The Bulldogs’ leading scorer earned an All-State honorable mention selection for a breakout season, tallying 19 points per game to guide Dove Creek to a 7-6 record, their first winning season since 2015-16. Hankins also led the team in steals, and grabbed six boards per game as the Bulldogs finished third in the SJBL standings.
Rounding out the local nominations, Mancos junior Connor Showalter earned a Second Team All-State nod, after another season of eye-popping numbers from the Bluejay post. Showalter led the Jays to the Round of 16 in the 2A state tournament with a double-double average of 20 points and 13 rebounds per outing. Showalter paced a young Mancos squad to a second place finish in the league, and an overall record of 13-3.
All-State selections were compiled by CHSAA, with coaches voting on a list of nominees from each classification.