SIMLA – For all the bumps and bruises incurred by the Dove Creek basketball teams throughout the season, Friday night’s 2A state tournament openers would stretch the already-depleted Bulldogs teams to their limits.
The Bulldogs battled fiercely to extend their seasons in their Round of 32 action, but the boys couldn’t keep pace with Vail Mountain in a 57-33 defeat while the girls stayed close to Gilpin County through one half but ran out of steam in a 41-29 loss.
Shorthanded without a couple of starters for their postseason encounter with the Gore Rangers, Dove Creek fell behind 11-0 in the opening four minutes to set the tone for a long night.
Junior Bobby Pastorius put together five quick points in a run that brought the Bulldogs within 19-11, but that would be the only time that DC would climb within single digits the rest of the way.
Senior Sheldon Gardner capped his career with a dozen points to pace the No. 16 Bulldogs (16-8), who closed out their fourth winning season in the past five campaigns. Pastorius added seven, while classmate Nicholas Aragon scored five.
Dove Creek trailed 30-14 at the half at Simla HS, with Gore Rangers senior Hunter Iverson pouring in 15 of his game-high 17 points in the opening 16 minutes.
With high pressure applied by DC head coach Teresa Martin’s squad in the second half, the Bulldogs forced turnovers to close within 15, but Vail Mountain also broke the pressure with several lay-ins from sophomore Cole Lewis to keep any thoughts of a Dove Creek rally at bay.
Gardner and classmate Liam Hassell concluded their basketball careers for the ‘Dogs, who posted a 12-game winning streak as part of their San Juan Basin League runner-up campaign.
A tight contest through two quarters, with the Bulldogs down 21-19 at the break, turned into a defensive grind in the second half. The ‘Dogs (18-6) could only manage 10 points in the final frames as the No. 15 seeded Eagles extended their lead to nine after three quarters on their way to the victory.
Head coach Julie Kibel’s squad, which dealt with a variety of injury difficulties throughout the campaign, battled to the end but fell short of the program’s fifth straight quarterfinal appearance.
Seniors Ralynn Hickman, Jessica Alexander, Taylor Barry, and Taryn Hickman saw their final action for the blue-and-yellow come to a close at Sanford HS, closing out impactful careers for the high-flying Bulldogs girls basketball program.
Friday’s action proved to be a tough night for the San Juan Basin League as a whole, with all seven representatives from the SJBL between the boys and girls 2A and 1A tournaments falling in their postseason debuts.
