{"id":23551,"date":"2025-02-13T20:02:49","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T03:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-girls-take-down-telluride-37-10\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:38:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:38:31","slug":"dove-creek-girls-take-down-telluride-37-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-girls-take-down-telluride-37-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Dove Creek girls take down Telluride 37-10"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dove
Dove Creek freshman Leah Barnett (34) tries fighting through Telluride senior Fianna Ahern (35) to attempt a shot during the Lady Bulldogs' 37-10 home win Tuesday, February 11. Barnett scored two points and grabbed nine rebounds while receiving extended minutes due to low-post regular Taylor Hampton being limited by illness. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

If there ever was a time for injury-marred Telluride to stun perennial 3A\/2A\/1A San Juan Basin League power Dove Creek, it would have been Feb. 11, inside The Dawg House.<\/p>\n

Junior Allex Williams was sidelined by a sprained right ankle.<\/p>\n

Feared senior Ralynn Hickman was benched by a sprained left ankle. \u201cI stepped on the ref,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And whatever the heck \u201cwalking pneumonia\u201d is, junior paint-patroller Taylor Hampton was thought to have it \u2013 and bad enough to the extent she finished with just one point in an outing she\u2019d probably just as soon forget.<\/p>\n

\"Dove
Dove Creek junior Hadley Hatfield fires a three-pointer over Telluride senior Pella Ward during the Bulldogs' 37-10 home win Feb. 11. Hatfield made two treys and totaled a game-high 12 points. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In an outing they\u2019d probably just as soon forget, however, the visiting Lady Miners failed to capitalize and quickly fell far behind as they went scoreless for the first quarter and most of the second. During that 14-minute, 4-second stretch, DCHS built up a 16-0 advantage \u2013 fueled primarily by junior guard Hadley Hatfield\u2019s first nine points and senior Taylor Barry\u2019s first four \u2013 which dipped below 13 points just once in what ended up being a 37-10 home win.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we lost Ralynn we really just wanted to take it to them, show that we can still play without our best player,\u201d said Hatfield, who made two three-pointers and totaled a game-high 12 points. \u201cAnd still try to make it up the ladder, try to take second place (in league).\u201d<\/p>\n

Also not at full power herself, Hatfield\u2019s night was further complicated when, during the first quarter, she injured her right index finger and had to have it taped to the middle finger in order to keep playing. During the third quarter, however, she looked to have almost forgotten the pain as pass after pass became assist after assist as she sent the ball where it needed to go.<\/p>\n

And, most often, to an unassuming recipient.<\/p>\n

After freshman Leah Barnett, a vital backup to Hampton, put the Lady Bulldogs (13-5 overall, 6-2 SJBL) up 18-5 at halftime with a two-pointer assisted by senior Jessie Alexander, Alexander took a Hatfield pass early in the third and promptly buried a three-pointer. THS junior Tori Sanders answered with a free throw, coming with 5:24 left, but Hatfield then dished off to Alexander for another trey and a long deuce, plus found sophomore reserve Kaybree Smith for another unexpected trey as 2A DCHS cruised into the fourth quarter leading 29-6.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really exciting; I\u2019m glad we had such great passes and stuff,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cWe like to encourage each other and help each other pick it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLately she\u2019s been playing really good defense,\u201d Hatfield said of Alexander, who totaled eight points. \u201cAnd offense? She doesn\u2019t shoot very much, but tonight she shot and made \u2019em \u2013 so maybe now she\u2019ll have some more confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dove
Dove Creek head coach Julie Kibel charges up Lady Bulldog junior Taylor Hampton and senior Taylor Barry (14) before play resumes during the Lady Bulldogs' 37-10 home win Feb.11, over Telluride.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Barry finished with six points and sophomore Mykaela Fury five, while Barnett chipped in two plus grabbed nine rebounds (which trailed only Fury\u2019s 12 for the team-high). Sanders, who\u2019d first got 3A Telluride (5-13, 2-7 SJBL) on the scoreboard via a two-pointer with 1:56 left in the second quarter, finished with three points \u2013 as did senior Gia Neyens \u2013 while seniors Fianna Ahern and Pella Ward each scored two.<\/p>\n

Up next, Dove Creek will travel Friday, Feb. 14, to 4A Montezuma-Cortez (5-13, 1-7 3A\/4A Intermountain), then resume league play on the 15th at home versus 2A Dolores (7-13, 4-5 SJBL).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve decided to start working together, and individually all start picking it up,\u201d said Alexander. \u201cI think we\u2019re all fired up and we\u2019re going to work hard and get ready, then play them and hopefully win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re ready for it; it\u2019ll really help our RPI after that Nucla loss,\u201d Hatfield (6 assists, 5 steals) said, referring to DCHS\u2019 70-49 away defeat on Feb. 8, during which Hickman wracked her ankle and managed only two points. Hatfield (16 points), Hampton (12) and Barry (11) still managed to reach double figures, while NHS senior Kendra McCluer led four Lady Mustangs in double figures with her game-high 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hatfield, Alexander provide backcourt punch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[600,39,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-basketball","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23551","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=23551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78173,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23551\/revisions\/78173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23551"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}