The Dolores Lady Bears fell behind early to the Ignacio Bobcats on Thursday and were unable to climb out of an 18-7 first-quarter deficit, losing 48-30.
Ignacio came out in a full-court defense, pressuring and trapping Dolores ball handlers, leading to turnovers and fastbreak opportunities for the visiting Bobcats.
When the Bears were able to get the ball across the midline, the pressure had them in a rush and caused more giveaways.
“We weren’t really expecting them to press as much as they did,” said head coach Larry Schwartz. “But we’ll adjust to that. That was probably the best press we’ve seen this season, outside of Sargent’s over at the valley.”
Dolores initially came out in a 1-2-2 defense, as Schwartz said it had helped neutralize Ignacio’s shooters in their meeting last year.
The Bears were able to minimize the Bobcats’ outside looks again, but Ignacio had success driving through the zone for open layups and got multiple attempts off offensive rebounds.
Trailing 18-7, Dolores started the second quarter in a 2-3 zone and jumped to their full-court defense midway through the quarter.
“After that deer-in-the-headlights first quarter, I thought they settled down and we did some good things,” said Schwartz.
The change in defense boosted the Bears, and senior Larissa Umberger was able to tip and steal passes from the top of the key leading to breakaway attempts, and the Bears cut the lead to 10 at half.
However, they struggled to score in the second half.
Turnovers leading to Ignacio fastbreak points caused some damage, but what hurt the Bears more was that even when they did get open shots, they couldn’t convert.
Dolores had only one field goal in the second half, on a driving score by Aryelle Wright in the third quarter.
They scored three points in the third, then got seven in the final frame, with all fourth-quarter points coming from the free-throw line.
Umberger and Nichole Kibel led the Bears in scoring with seven points each, Wright added six and Madi Archuleta netted four.
Dolores plays Ignacio again in an away game at the end of January – and may see them in the district tournament – and coach Schwartz believes that the Bears will have a better showing the next time around.
“If we just keep getting better and better, by the time we see that team in districts, hopefully we’ll be able to give them a way better game than we did today.”