If bumps and bruises serve as any reminder, the Ouray High School girls basketball team will not forget the Lady Bears despite escaping Dolores with a 26-21 victory.
“It was a very physical game, and we played all four quarters as hard as we could,” said Dolores freshman McKenzy Howerton. “Yeah, we lost, but we came together, and we will do better next time.”
Chief among the highlights of the low-scoring contest was the crushing screen set by Howerton on Ouray senior Kayla Fairchild midway through the first quarter. The play occurred after Fairchild aggressively pressed Dolores junior Sierra Schwartz in the backcourt. After the screen, Fairchild stayed down for roughly 10 seconds before crawling to pick up her hair band and collect herself.
“I saw Sierra, and I saw she was struggling a little bit, so I decided to go and set a pick,” Howerton said. “We’ve been working on picks a little in practice, and it just kind of happened.”
Later in the first half, the Lady Bears again showed physical prowess when sophomore Tatum Majors fouled Ouray sophomore Lauren Fairchild to prevent an easy layup. Majors’ hard-nosed play seemingly ignited the Lady Bears, who pulled ahead 13-12 with 2:43 left in the second quarter after a breakaway layup by Schwartz and a three-pointer from the left corner by Maddie Archuleta.
Beginning the third quarter trailing 14-13, Dolores again received a boost from Archuleta, who niftily tiptoed around a Ouray defender along the baseline for a layup. Not long after, Schwartz and Ouray Jordan Leo tangled arms after a rebound, and both players fell to the floor. A clearly frustrated Leo was called for an offensive foul on the subsequent possession.
With the game tied 19-19 entering the fourth quarter, Dolores looked for Tatum Majors on the low block, and the sophomore delivered, scoring after a drop step with 6 minutes left to put the Lady Bears ahead 21-20.
An offensive drought late in the game doomed the Lady Bears, and Ouray scored the final six points to walk away with the victory.
After suffering a nose injury thanks a hard shot to the face early in the first quarter, Majors returned to the game and led Dolores with 10 points. After the contest, the sophomore spoke about her injury and the game.
“I got elbowed right on top of the nose, but I was able to come back a few minutes later,” said Majors. “I feel like I did pretty good tonight (with the physical play). I like getting a body on people and getting the rebound. It’s a cool feeling to go up in the air and get the ball.”
With the victory, Ouray moved to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in SJBL. The Lady Bears fell to 2-8 overall and 1-4 in the SJBL.
Now losers of three straight games, the Lady Bears will look to put a notch in the win column at home against Dove Creek on Jan. 31.