{"id":15430,"date":"2025-12-03T17:32:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T00:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wide-open-san-juan-basin-basketball-title-chase-set-to-kick-off\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:48:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:48:05","slug":"wide-open-san-juan-basin-basketball-title-chase-set-to-kick-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wide-open-san-juan-basin-basketball-title-chase-set-to-kick-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Wide-open San Juan Basin basketball title chase set to kick off"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dove
Dove Creek junior Hadley Hatfield dives for the ball.(Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Erika Alvero<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

DOVE CREEK \u2013 A year ago, the Bulldogs came within a whisker of earning a San Juan Basin League sweep of the girls and boys basketball titles.<\/p>\n

The emergence of Nucla in the girls race ended Dove Creek\u2019s run of four straight league titles, while the boys\u2019 title hopes were clipped by Ridgway in the final week of the season. Two runner-up finishes have the blue-and-yellow motivated for another title chase as the season tips off this weekend.<\/p>\n

Under new coaches, the Dolores and Mancos girls teams made strides last winter and look to continue growing in the upcoming months. Meanwhile, the Bears boys team returns most of the core from a squad that competed with some of the league\u2019s top teams last year. The Bluejays boys team hopes to rebuild some of the success the program enjoyed over the past decade as it welcomes a new coach.<\/p>\n

With league play set for the 2026 portion of the schedule, the Bulldogs, Bluejays and Bears look to prime themselves with early-season challenges to set up their SJBL pursuit in January and February.<\/p>\n

Bulldogs return plenty of upperclass talent<\/div>\n

Few programs in the state have matched Dove Creek\u2019s decade-long dominance in league play. Yearly rejuvenation of the team\u2019s depth has spurred the Bulldogs to continued success under ninth-year head coach Julie Kibel.<\/p>\n

In their second year in the Class 2A classification, the \u2019Dogs hope to make it nine straight winning seasons under Kibel\u2019s guidance, and her team returns plenty of talent. Dove Creek brings back one of the toughest post players in the classification, senior Taylor Hampton, who averaged a double-double last year while serving as a rim protector.<\/p>\n

Point guard Hadley Hatfield will look to continue leading the team in assists, with a group of rising seniors gaining elevated scoring roles, including Allex Williams and Ambrynn Huffaker. The Bulldogs aim to lean on their traditionally tough defense to make life difficult for opposing shooters.<\/p>\n

In boys action, second-year head coach Teresa Martin brings back several scoring threats from her team\u2019s 16-8 season. Senior Trevan Ivie will shoulder a heavier scoring burden after the \u2019Dogs graduated their top two scorers, but along with classmates Josh Kibel and Nicholas Aragon \u2014 fresh off gritty battles on the gridiron \u2014 Dove Creek is no stranger to physical play.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs hope to develop backcourt depth through their rising upperclassmen, while seniors Bobby Pastorius, Jonathan Davis and Daniel Gray will see increased minutes and scoring opportunities.<\/p>\n

The boys and girls programs open the season in Mosca as part of the Thunderbird Shootout hosted by Sangre de Cristo Dec. 4-6. A second consecutive tournament weekend takes the Bulldogs to Rangely before they host their annual holiday tournament Dec. 19-20 to wrap up the 2025 portion of the schedule.<\/p>\n

Dolores gears up to climb league ladder<\/div>\n

Dove Creek\u2019s rapid turnaround from 2024 to 2025 is something the Bears hope to mirror this season \u2014 with enough talent to climb the league standings. Second-year head coach Nick Traweek brings back most of the team\u2019s scoring from last year\u2019s 7-15 season, led by junior Koby McClellan and senior Michael Rantz.<\/p>\n

The duo joins junior Miles Brown as captains for a still-youthful squad. Will Nielson joins Rantz as the only members of the Class of \u201926. Sophomore Lane Johnson offers the Bears a strong presence in the paint, while members of a large junior class look to carve out roles in the Dolores offense.<\/p>\n

The Bears picked up a season-opening win, their first in four years, with a 52-43 victory over Whitehorse on Tuesday night in Aneth. They\u2019ll head to Mosca for the Thunderbird Shootout Dec. 4-6.<\/p>\n

The DHS girls team also opened with a victory to start first-year head coach Mike Nielson\u2019s tenure. The Bears got a string of free throws from senior captain Taylor Erautt in overtime to beat Bayfield 54-49 on the road Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Dolores senior Kacey Schmittel joins Erautt in the Class of \u201926 group that has helped the team steadily improve. The Bears collected seven wins last winter \u2014 the program\u2019s best mark in five years \u2014 and aim to keep climbing. Sophomore Emilynn Hill \u2014 who hit the go-ahead bucket in overtime \u2014 will help operate at point guard, while junior Akaia Edwards and sophomore Jordyn Erautt bring high energy to the DHS rotation.<\/p>\n

Dolores looks forward to three games in two days during tournament action in Rangely Dec. 12-13.<\/p>\n

Mancos starting with a fresh slate<\/div>\n

The Bluejays girls team grew throughout its first season under head coach Julie Oliver last winter, leaning on new leaders as Mancos continues building after its state tournament appearance two years ago.<\/p>\n

Those leaders have another year of experience as Mancos aims to improve on its 7-13 record. Sophomore Tinsley Aspromonte made an immediate impact last winter, emerging as one of the league\u2019s most dynamic scorers.<\/p>\n

Aspromonte will be joined by senior captains Destiny Kramer and Caylee Moore as leaders for the blue-and-white, while a group of incoming freshmen hopes to make an early impression in Oliver\u2019s rotation.<\/p>\n

Mancos opens its season in Sargent against the Farmers on Friday before facing M-CHS the following morning. A trip to Ignacio on Dec. 9 leads into tournament action in Cedaredge Dec. 12-13 \u2014 the Jays\u2019 final competition before the holiday break.<\/p>\n

On the boys side, new head coach Rudy Archuleta takes over a Mancos team eager to return to winning form. After a winless 2024-25 campaign, the Jays hope a young roster\u2019s growth pays off in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Mancos opens against Lake City on Dec. 5, followed by a meeting with Sargent the next day. The Jays will also face Ignacio and three opponents in the Cedaredge tournament Dec. 12-13 before turning their focus to SJBL play to start the new year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Creek, Dolores and Mancos look to claim league trophy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15431,"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-15430","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\/15430","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=15430"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19654,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15430\/revisions\/19654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15430"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}