The Dolores Lady Bears (10-7) dropped a nail-biter in overtime to Ouray (8-8) last Friday, but they bounced back with a win on parent’s night at home against Ridgway (5-13) on Saturday.
Dolores had taken down the Trojans earlier this season, 49-22, but on Friday, Ouray got the best of the visiting Bears, winning the second contest in overtime, 44-43.
“I was a little worried going into Ouray that it was like a trap game,” said head coach Larry Schwartz. “And we ended up losing in overtime by one. We ended up getting beat by kind of underestimating somebody that we had blown out earlier in the year.”
But on Saturday back at home, the Lady Bears came back focused and took down the Ridgway Demons on parent’s night.
The Demons came out firing, and Dolores trailed 15-12 after one, but they regrouped and outscored the Demons 44-10 in the final three frames.
“We told the girls we wanted to do what we do best, and that’s press and get back into our 1-3-1 and our 2-3,” said Schwartz. “And doggone if we didn’t give up 15 points in the first quarter. I called a timeout and I probably got on the girls harder than I had all season, and they responded.”
Over half of Dolores’ scoring came from behind the 3-point line, as the Lady Bears connected on 10 triples.
Senior Larissa Umberger knocked down two from deep in the first quarter and finished with four 3-pointers and a team-high 16 points.
Tegan Hite and Nicole Kibel each added two 3-pointers and Madi Archuleta and Aryelle Wright connected on one apiece in the Bears’ 56-25 win.
“We’ve been waiting for a game like that where they just let it rain,” said Schwartz. “We came in here today in our own gym with a great crowd, because it was parent appreciation day, and the girls just lit it up.”
“They were going back-and-forth between man-to-man and zone,” he continued. “And when they went to zone we were just finding those open spots and the girls did a really great job of hitting the threes.”
Umberger led the Lady Bears with 16 points in the win and Wright finished with 11. Kibel added eight points and Hite and Josie Majors each scored six.
The Lady Bears have one regular season game remaining, in a contest against the Mancos Lady Blue Jays (8-8) in Dolores on Friday.