The Dolores Lady Bears (9-6) held the Telluride Miners (2-11) to one field goal and one free throw in the first quarter of their contest on Friday evening.
The Bears came out in a 1-3-1 zone, but threw a combination of different looks at the Miners, and turned steals into transition points to jump out to a 12-3 lead after the first quarter.
“The 1-3-1 worked early,” said head coach Larry Schwartz. “And we ran our regular two presses. We were backing up a little bit to begin with, but once we started being aggressive then the floodgates opened up again and we went back into our 2-3 zone and told our girls to stay aggressive in that and then the steals started happening.”
The Miners scored on their opening possession in the second quarter, but then the Bears’ would hold them scoreless for the next five minutes, going on a 10-0 run.
Teegan Hite banked in a 3-pointer to start the ambush, and then Madi Archuleta scored on a baseline drive. Aryelle Wright put back an offensive rebound in traffic, Kitty Wallace hit a free throw and Archuleta hit a jumper to lead the Lady Bears to half with a 22-10 lead.
Even with a 12-point lead, Schwartz was not content with the Lady Bears’ first-half performance.
“We counted ten missed easy baskets,” he said. “Easy shots underneath, we missed at least eight or ten layups. If we would’ve made those it wouldn’t have been a close game at half, but we made it happen on our own. Once we adjusted and started making those layups, then it opened up.”
In the second half, the Lady Bears worked the ball around the perimeter to move the Miners 1-1-3 zone and find open looks. After the game, Schwartz explained how his team approached the unique zone.
“We just move it around it our 41 as quick as we can and then get it to our three-ball shooters and hope that they get those open shots,” he said. “And if they knock them down then it stretches that defense out. It came down to hitting a few threes that were timely and they had to get out of it.”
Larissa Umberger connected on two 3-pointers in the third quarter, and Nicole Kibel added another to help push the Bears’ lead to 20 to start the fourth.
Josie Majors started the final frame with a 5-0 run of her own, Kibel added another triple and then Wright, Kibel and Wallace each scored consecutive breakaway layups.
“We hit some really timely threes and just enough layups,” said Schwartz. “If we would’ve made all our layups tonight we would’ve put up sixty, but we’ll work on that.”
Defensively, the Lady Bears kept at it, and they held the Miners without a fourth-quarter point, allowing just four points in the entire second half to win, 48-14.
Kibel led Dolores with 12 points, Wright scored 10 and Umberger added eight.
The Lady Bears will next face Ouray (6-7) in an away contest on Friday.