GREELEY – The pregame jitters never go away, but the Dove Creek Bulldogs knew the Bank of Colorado Arena floor like the back of their hand.
No opposition would strike fear into the Bulldogs, as they played on their home-away-from-home in Greeley on the state’s highest stage in the 1A state championships. Third-seeded Flatirons Academy knew that fact all to well, after Dove Creek dispatched the Bison in the third-place game a year ago.
With renewed high stakes, the Bulldogs overcame early struggles to climb back into the game but couldn’t overcome their early challenges, as the Bison pulled away to win 49-29 on Thursday to reach the state semifinals.
In a game of streaks, Flatirons Academy posted big runs in the first, third, and fourth quarters, countering a nice second quarter push by Dove Creek, with the Bison gaining enough breathing room to hold off the Bulldogs down the stretch.
Senior Kylie Gatlin drained a three on the opening possession for the Bulldogs, only to see the Bison respond with a 12-0 run to claim their first lead. Flatirons Academy senior Emily Dehaan led the charge with eight points in the run, and with under three minutes left in the opening quarter, Dove Creek found themselves in one of their deepest holes of the season, down 12-3.
The Bulldogs (20-3) responded with a nice find from senior Kalie Gatlin to junior Ralynn Hickman for a lay-in to end the run, snapping a six-minute scoreless drought for Dove Creek.
With the Bison (23-1) fully committed to stopping the Gatlin sisters, Hickman found some pockets of space, scoring again to begin the second quarter then adding a free throw as part of a personal 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 12-10. Meanwhile, the defense smothered Flatirons Academy during the first five minutes of the second quarter, keeping the Bison scoreless during that stretch.
Dehaan drained a 3-pointer to end the drought, before Kalie Gatlin responded with a triple of her own to make it 15-13 with just over two minutes left in the half.
Back-to-back layups gave the Bison a 19-13 lead, sending the higher seed into locker room with the advantage.
Dehaan continued her sharpshooting in the second half, opening the third with a 3-pointer to build the back to the largest margin, 22-13.
Moments later, sophomore Hadley Hatfield found herself alone on the right block for a layup after a drive from Kylie Gatlin. However, Flatirons Academy responded with consecutive 3s to expand the lead to 28-15 as part of a 13-2 run.
Four quick points from Hickman and Kylie Gatlin made it a 30-19 game after three quarters, but a mountain to climb in the fourth quarter.
From there, Flatirons Academy ballooned its lead to 20 points thanks to hot 3-point shooting.
Hickman paced the Bulldogs with 18 points, while Kylie Gatlin added six. Dehaan led all scorers with 25 points for the Bison, while Cox scored 10 points.
Dove Creek will face either No. 2 seed Stratton or No. 7 Eads in Friday’s consolation bracket, starting at 11:45 a.m. The game will be broadcast on radio station NewsTalk 740 AM and 92.3 FM, as well as kvfcradio.com.
