{"id":28549,"date":"2024-03-26T00:51:53","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T06:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/all-state-players-from-southwest-colorado-excel-in-aurora\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:32:28","slug":"all-state-players-from-southwest-colorado-excel-in-aurora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/all-state-players-from-southwest-colorado-excel-in-aurora\/","title":{"rendered":"All-State players from Southwest Colorado excel in Aurora"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Savannah Haselroth (15) inhales while readying herself to either shoot over or maneuver around Yuma's Caddis Robinson (21) March 17 during the 2024 CCGS All-State Games' Class 3A feature in Aurora.
\nJoel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

AURORA \u2013 Well aware that Kalie and Kylie Gatlin of Dove Creek had just helped ignite the Colorado Coaches of Girls\u2019 Sports All-State Basketball Games by contributing to the 1A Blue\u2019s runaway romp over 1A Red, Quincy Montoya knew the bar had been set high for all selected San Juan Basin Leaguers.<\/p>\n

Especially for one \u2013 herself, in this case \u2013 who wasn\u2019t quite counting on being chosen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe night we got back \u2013 that Sunday night \u2013 from State, (CCGS) called and was like, \u2018Do you want to come?\u2019 I was like, \u2018Yes!\u2019\u201d Mancos\u2019 senior point guard recalled while seated up in Grandview High School Gymnasium\u2019s bleachers. \u201cA lot of times players from down in our area don\u2019t get recognized as much as up here. So it\u2019s really good to see that. We\u2019re all here to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Markylla Jones (30) is greeted by Strasburg head coach Merci Ames during pregame recognitions of the All-State Games' Class 3A players March 17 in Aurora. Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek's Kalie Gatlin (33) enjoys a laugh with All-State teammates including Walden North Park's Dezirae Gonzales (10), Granada's Marissa Valenzuela (2) and Briggsdale's Jenna Krise (23) March 17 inside Grandview High School gymnasium in Aurora. Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Taking
Taking contact from Springfield's Aliya Cohoon (35), and from Kit Carson's Lindsey Mayhan, Dove Creek's Kylie Gatlin (34) shoots from close range March 17 during the All-State Games' Class 1A feature.
\nJoel Priest\/Special to The Jourmal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Standing
Standing alongside Greeley Dayspring Christian Academy's Eboselulu Omofoma (10), Mancos' Quincy Montoya (13) nervously awaits her pregame recognition as an All-State Games participant March 17 in Aurora. Joel Pries\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

And while it took an explosive 45-18 second-half effort March 17, for Dove Creek\u2019s twins and their limited-time-only mates to separate and ultimately prevail 69-43 in the 9 a.m. clash, Montoya and 2A Blue wasted no time in declaring their dominance in the 10:30 duel.<\/p>\n

Having sprinted out to a 12-0 lead with 4:43 still left in the opening eight-minute quarter, the Blues \u2013 with Montoya in the starting lineup for head coach Bart O\u2019Dwyer and assistant Erin Mellott of Limon \u2013 raced into the second stanza up 18-2 and accelerated into halftime ahead 32-9 en route to ah 69-40 victory after a scorekeeping gaffe gave the Blues a 70-39 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that State game was going to be my last,\u201d said Montoya, alluding to Mancos\u2019 defeat of Denver Christian in the 2A State Championships\u2019 fifth-place contest March 9 inside Blue Arena in Loveland. \u201cSo getting a good win like this and playing with some amazing girls \u2013 against amazing girls \u2013 was awesome. It means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montoya scored four points and tallied a media-counted six assists in the blowout, while Greeley Dayspring Christian Academy\u2019s Eboselulu Omofoma \u2013 erroneously credited with two made free throws in the second quarter instead of just one \u2013 led offensively with a game-high 16 points. Teammates Karsyn Huss of Iliff Caliche and Kinsey Grauer of Akron each booked 14.<\/p>\n

Playing against DCA teammate Omofoma, Dayspring\u2019s Faith Hayward scored 13 points for 2A-Red in defeat, and Center\u2019s Alicia Rios tallied 10. The pair combined for 14 of the Reds\u2019 valiant 21 fourth-quarter points, making the final margin appear closer than perhaps it truly was.<\/p>\n

In the preceding contest, Kylie Gatlin registered eight points and Kalie Gatlin two, while Walden North Park\u2019s Dezirae Gonzales cashed four three-pointers and racked up 19 of her game-high 24 points after intermission. Springfield\u2019s Lainee Leathers (11 points) also reached double figures for Dove Creek\u2019s Julie Kibel, tapped to skipper a Games side.<\/p>\n

Stratton\u2019s Sedonia Isenbart sank four threes and finished with 16 points for 1A Red, which led 25-24 at halftime.<\/p>\n

In the Games\u2019 Class 3A attraction, Montezuma-Cortez seniors Savannah Haselroth and Markylla Jones played with the 3A Blues \u2013 directed by Buena Vista\u2019s Robert Crowder and Kyle Johnson \u2013 and each scored five points in a tight 51-45 loss.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 free throw with 2:51 left in the first quarter brought trailing Blue back to 10-8, but 3A Red concluded the quarter on a 7-0 run and Blue got no closer the rest of the way than 23-19 before Red put together a game-breaking 11-0 spree \u2013 helping them to a 34-21 halftime lead.<\/p>\n

Still down 45-37 through three quarters, despite two treys and eight points from Bennett\u2019s Lily Venneberg, 3A Blue closed to 49-43 thanks to Jones\u2019 two FTs with 1:47 left in regulation. After Red answered with a basket, Haselroth \u2013 part of Blue\u2019s starting lineup \u2013 struck from inside with 0:43.8 remaining for what ended up being the exciting battle\u2019s last two points.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these players came, like, from nothing and now they\u2019re something with all the hard work they put in. They were really amazing with what they can do,\u201d said Jones (3-4 FT), who initially entered the fray as a reserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to meet a lot of cool people \u2013 I think it was a great way to end the season,\u201d Haselroth (1-3 FT) said. \u201cWe put in a lot of work together, offseason and in-season, and I think we both earned this. It was really awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venneberg paced Blue in defeat with her 14 points. Bailey Fritzke of Colorado Springs-based The Vanguard School hit two threes and finished with eight points, and Olathe\u2019s Tyra Gray made three trey and totaled seven.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to get some steals and we had some really nice-looking shots \u2026 that just didn\u2019t go. I thought they were going to be there but, you know, that\u2019s part of basketball,\u201d Crowder said. \u201cThe big thing is the girls got this chance. What an honor for them to be a part of this, come together \u2026. I\u2019d love to have this team, be able to compete with these girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ault Highland sharpshooter Taylor Berkheimer, who drained two key three-pointers for Red during the second quarter and four during the first half, totaled five bombs and ended up with a game-high 15 points. Peyton\u2019s Abbie Nickell knocked down two triples and totaled 11 points, PHS teammate Emme Ratliff contributed eight points, while Strasburg\u2019s Graecy Graf and Yuma\u2019s Caddis Robinson each chipped in six.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Montezuma-Cortez, Dove Creek send two to games; Mancos sends one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28549","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=28549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80452,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28549\/revisions\/80452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28549"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}