<\/p>\n
Slowly but surely, the Dolores Lady Bears filed out of the locker room at Monte Vista High School after their season-ending loss to the Sargent Farmers on Friday.<\/p>\n
With tearful eyes, players fell into the awaiting arms of family and friends there to console them.<\/p>\n
The scene was quiet and heavy as reality began to sink in: The season was over.<\/p>\n
Dolores played nearly even with Sargent during the first quarter of Friday\u2019s Class 2A Region 1 opener.<\/p>\n
And they would have entered the second frame tied at seven if it weren\u2019t for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Lainie Dillon that gave the Farmers a three-point edge.<\/p>\n
But for the remainder of the contest, the Lady Bears struggled to score.<\/p>\n
They went cold. There was a lid on the basket. They couldn\u2019t buy a bucket.<\/p>\n
All the clich\u00e9s fit.<\/p>\n
The Lady Bears scored just 12 points in the final three quarters, and Sargent cruised into the second round with a 41-19 win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe missed easy shots at the bucket,\u201d said head coach Larry Schwartz. \u201cEasy layups and easy 2-foot putbacks. We got our post moves going, but shots just wouldn\u2019t fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defensively, the Bears played nearly as well as they could have hoped.<\/p>\n
They held Sargent to 41 points, limited their transition opportunities and held leading scorer, Quincy Lester, to just six points in the first half.<\/p>\n
Lester got hot in the second half and finished with 18 points, and Sargent got second-chance opportunities on the offensive glass, but there were no backbreaking flaws in the Bears\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n
It came down to their inability to score.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive them credit, too,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cThey played some really good man-to-man defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a fairy tale ending \u2013 or even an ideal finish \u2013 for the Bears\u2019 season.<\/p>\n
But Schwartz noted that after being bounced in the district tournament last year, making it to the regional tournament this season was another step in the right direction.<\/p>\n
While the Lady Bears will look to keep moving forward next season \u2013 with six varsity players returning \u2013 Schwartz made sure to note the contributions of his five seniors: Larissa Umberger, Nichole Kibel, Bri Nuss, Teegan Hite and Kitty Wallace.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so proud of the senior girls for getting us back here,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were great leaders. They\u2019ve got a lot of heart, they\u2019re fighters and they got us back this far.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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