After demolishing Norwood in the district semifinals on Feb. 23, the Dolores High School girls basketball team began its Class 2A District 3 championship game against Ignacio oozing confidence.
Any thoughts of a Lady Bears victory were quickly extinguished, however, as the Lady Bobcats dominated both ends of the floor throughout a 46-11 victory at Montezuma-Cortez High School on Feb. 24.
Sarah Hamilton scored seven points, and Sierra Schwartz and Codi Archuleta each chipped in two points in Dolores’ lowest-scoring game of the season.
Afterward, players admitted that Ignacio’s physical style of play disputed their rhythm on the offensive end.
“I think that we just came out, and we didn’t prepare for how hard and physical it was going to be,” said Dolores junior Tatum Majors. “At times, we got a little bit tired, and we weren’t executing the plays, and we weren’t playing good defense.”
Also contributing to the Lady Bears’ loss was Ignacio’s offense during a 25-0 run that began midway through the first quarter and ended late in the second quarter with Ignacio leading 28-5.
Eight Ignacio players scored in the contest, including freshman Jayden Brunson, who poured in a game-high 14 points and drained four three-point field goals, including two straight long bombs in the fourth quarter that put Ignacio ahead 42-9.
(Ignacio) is the best team that we’ve played all year, and we could’ve played with them, but we got a little behind,” Majors said.
Now 10-11 on the season, Dolores will await word on its regional matchup, which will be determined by a committee and based largely on RPI rankings. Regardless of who their opponent turns out to be, Dolores players emphasized that their goal will be to win.
“We don’t want to get blown off the court like we did tonight,” Majors aid. “Our goal is to push really hard this week so we can try to get a win at regionals.”
Regional brackets were expected to be released on Feb. 26.