The Dolores Lady Bears Basketball team has enjoyed much success. Perhaps too much.
Dolores has dominated the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League under coach John McHenry, winning the last three 2A district tournaments. Not that the Lady Bears are complaining about success, but they feel they havent been challenged enough in the regular season. By the time the regional playoffs come, Dolores has not fared well, usually getting overmatched physically by its opponent. McHenry has just one region tournament win.
Our expectations are still the same. We want to make it to state, he said. We still feel like we have the horses to do it. Were going to have to really work on our conditioning this year and be a little bit more game-controlled as a team.
Challenging changes may be on the horizon. Dolores graduated five seniors from a year ago, including All-State players Cortney Brunner and Cheyenne McCoy. Many teams in the SJBL lost seniors, which may create parody in a more evenly matched league. Thats exactly what McHenry wants.
I think this year, its going to be really exciting basketball every game, he said. I look forward to it. We need to learn to play close. Whatever level it may be, I think this year its going to be exciting games every night.
Dolores returns five major contributors, two of which were starters in junior Cydney McHenry and senior 3-point threat Kaitlyn McGee. Juniors Lexi Atkinson and Mindy McCracken, and senior Rachel Beverlin are back looking to compete as starters. Sophomore Brianna Schwartz expects to be key at the varsity level as well. But if there is a major concern, it is overall depth.
We need some girls from our JV team to really step up. Our depth is going to be our weakness this year, John McHenry said. I have seven ball players right now that can help us out. Were going to need to come together as a team and help fulfill that bench to get that depth. Right now, were really thin.
The team grasped playing organized basketball together in a unofficial scrimmage against Montezuma-Cortez High School. Coach McHenry was able to get a feel of where the pieces connect to the puzzle. The Lady Bears also saw what it was like playing M-CHS. Dolores opens the season tomorrow on the road against the M-CHS junior varsity at 5:30 p.m.
I think were very well prepared, Cydney McHenry said. Seeing them at the scrimmage really helped us see what were going to see. It will be a good time for us as a team to get down to fundamentals and see how well we work together.
Players will have to know their roles on the floor. Coach McHenrys Lady Bears lack height, but possess a lot of speed. The girls have been learning to play each basketball position.
It depends on what team youre playing, Cydney McHenry said about playing different spots on the floor. Most the teams in our league have bigger girls than we have. Were going to have to keep the paint pretty tight, so they cant get any of the short shots. We want to force them to make outside shots.
Dolores will start the season with four games in four days. The Lady Bears will play in the Valley Classic at Adams State College in Alamosa on Thursday through Saturday. Dolores will play in the Wolf Creek Classic at Pagosa Springs on Dec. 9-10. Conference play starts at home with Nucla on Dec. 16 before concluding nonleague play at Bayfield Dec. 17. After Christmas break, the Lady Bears are at Ouray on Jan. 7, 2012. The regular season ends Feb. 17 at Ridgway.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.
