{"id":13606,"date":"2026-02-07T19:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T02:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/high-energy-bears-surge-to-fourth-straight-win\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:38:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:38:46","slug":"high-energy-bears-surge-to-fourth-straight-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/high-energy-bears-surge-to-fourth-straight-win\/","title":{"rendered":"High-energy Bears surge to fourth straight win"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dolores
Dolores senior Kacey Schmittel looks to dribble past her Monticello defender in a game earlier this season in The Den. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

DOLORES \u2013 The concrete steps circling The Bears Den inside the Dolores Fieldhouse have been worn down under the footsteps of countless conditioning reps the DHS girls basketball team puts in each week.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same grind\u2011it\u2011out mentality first\u2011year head coach Mike Nielson wants his players to apply on the floor: 32 minutes of relentless pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a ton of running this year \u2013 it\u2019s a system that really clicks with the girls,\u201d Nielson said. \u201cWe call the pathway around our gym the \u2018Yellow Brick Roads,\u2019 and our legs help carry our defense \u2013 and now we\u2019re beating teams because we\u2019re in better shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

The approach is paying off. Dolores is enjoying its best season in seven years, sitting at 5\u20113 in SJBL play and 9\u20119 overall after a 35\u201124 win over Ouray in The Den on Friday night.<\/p>\n

The conditioning serves a dual purpose. Not only does it drain opponents late in games, it also prepares a small Bears roster to play extended minutes. Nielson opened the season with nine players in the program, and injuries have tightened the rotation even more. Dolores dressed seven players Friday, several of whom logged more than 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

A trio of seniors \u2013 led by four\u2011year varsity member and multi\u2011year captain Taylor Erautt \u2013 has guided the Bears into third place in the Basin standings entering the season\u2019s homestretch. Erautt, the team\u2019s leading scorer, is joined by rebounding standout Kacey Schmittel and key reserve Natalya Castillo from the Class of \u201926 as they chase their first regional berth.<\/p>\n

Dolores shook off a slow start against the Trojans, using a 12\u20112 second\u2011quarter run and high\u2011pressure defense to take a 16\u20118 halftime lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to make a mental switch \u2013 the shots weren\u2019t falling, so we started driving and drawing fouls,\u201d Erautt said of the second\u2011quarter spark.<\/p>\n

Balanced scoring helped Dolores steadily pull away in the second half, stretching its lead to as many as 15 as six different Bears recorded points while the Trojans wore down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call our press \u201890 feet,\u2019 even though our court is only 84 feet long \u2013 we want our girls to make the opponents feel like even the space out\u2011of\u2011bounds is too much pressure,\u201d Nielson said. \u201cAnd once we went into our \u201890 feet,\u2019 the girls turned it on tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erautt led all scorers with 12 points, half of them coming in the fourth quarter after she missed much of the third with foul trouble. In her absence, sophomore Ellisia Winter provided an interior boost, helping DHS win the rebounding battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cEllisia works so hard every single practice and she\u2019s the most coachable person I\u2019ve ever played with,\u201d Erautt said, noting that Winter returned to basketball after several years away. \u201cShe makes us all want to work harder to keep up with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore Emilynn Hill added nine points, while classmate Jordyn Erautt frustrated Ouray leading scorer Mikayla Hirt, who finished with eight \u2013 well below her season average \u2013 as Dolores completed the season sweep.<\/p>\n

Schmittel posted another double\u2011figure rebounding effort to go with her four points. Winter scored six, Jordyn Erautt hit a three\u2011pointer, and junior Cheyanne Keim added a free throw.<\/p>\n

\u201cKacey had another big day for us,\u201d Nielson said of his senior post. \u201cAnd as a whole team, the girls are believing in each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolores entered the weekend ranked No. 45 in the 2A CHSAA Seeding and Selection Index. The Bears need to rise into the top 32 to extend their season into March. Opportunities to strengthen their r\u00e9sum\u00e9 are looming, including a trip to 2A No. 5 Sargent on Thursday, Feb. 12, and a Valentine\u2019s Day matchup with Dove Creek at 3 p.m. in The Den.<\/p>\n

Erautt is savoring a standout senior year in black\u2011and\u2011red, having made her volleyball state debut in the fall while also competing in track and field. She has been a constant presence in Dolores\u2019 rise over the past four seasons.<\/p>\n

With the final weeks ahead, she is focused on perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have it written on our warmups \u2013 \u2018Faith and Family,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I just want us to be able to play hard as a family and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dolores climbs back to .500, seniors seek first playoff appearance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13606"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19064,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13606\/revisions\/19064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13606"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}