{"id":35301,"date":"2023-03-11T23:31:47","date_gmt":"2023-03-12T06:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-finishes-state-basketballs-final-four-in-third-place\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:24:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:24:02","slug":"dove-creek-finishes-state-basketballs-final-four-in-third-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-finishes-state-basketballs-final-four-in-third-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Dove Creek finishes state basketball\u2019s Final Four in third place"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Dove Creek High School girls basketball team celebrates their third-place performance in the 1A state tournament, finishing a 23-3 season with a 40-28 victory over Flatirons Academy at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. Back row: Jonce Hatfield, Ralynn Hickman, Kalie Gatlin, Lexi Gray, Kylie Gatlin, Rylee Hickman, coach Julie Kibel. Front row: Halee Beanland, Kaylin Smith, Hadley Hatfield, Destiny Toledo, Allex Williams, Trista Barnett.
\n(Photo courtesy of Ty Gray)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The impression left by the Dove Creek Class of 2023 will be hang around for a long time in the hallways of Dove Creek High School.<\/p>\n

Their imprint spanned the breadth of the athletic programs, and with one final time on the basketball court together, five Dove Creek seniors made a curtain call on an incredible season, and fantastic careers for Bulldogs basketball.<\/p>\n

In their third-place contest against Flatirons Academy of Westminster, the Bulldogs earned the program\u2019s highest state placement in school history, making a statement against the two-time defending state champions, controlling the game nearly wire-to-wire to hoist the third-place trophy with a 40-28 win.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs (23-3) smothered Flatirons Academy (23-3) in the final three quarters, limiting the high-scoring Bison to only eight points in the second and third quarters \u2013 a part of their lowest point output of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been such a special group,\u201d said sixth-year head coach Julie Kibel, \u201cand they\u2019ve grown up together, from the seniors to the underclassmen. Having a group like this \u2013 they\u2019re few and far between.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Dove Creek went up 5-0 in the opening minute, thanks to a pair of field goals by juniors Kalie and Kylie Gatlin, the Bison responded with six straight points to take their only lead of the game at 6-5.<\/p>\n

From there, as she has all tournament, senior Lexi Gray dictated play in the paint, scoring seven straight points for the Bulldogs to help the No. 4 seed build a 13-8 lead early in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Flatirons\u2019 Kenlee Durrill briefly responded, with an and-one to tie the game, but a Rylee Hickman three-pointer late in the second quarter sent the Bulldogs to the locker room up 16-13.<\/p>\n

Then, the Bulldogs shifted gears.<\/p>\n

The defense clamped down on every Bison possession, while Kylie Gatlin started to heat up from the field. She outscored the Bison by herself in the third quarter, while Dove Creek spread their lead to double figures, 27-16, after three quarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew they had good outside shooters, but we wanted take something away from them, so we went with a two-three zone,\u201d said Kibel, \u201cbut to our girls\u2019 credit, we didn\u2019t come out flat \u2013 they moved so well on defense the whole game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitting, that the Bulldogs would get plenty of senior highlights to close out their trophy-winning performance, as Hickman, Gray, Trista Barnett and Kaylin Smith scored in the second half to close out the win.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs built their largest lead, 39-23, on a pair of Smith free throws, before the final seconds ticked away inside the Bank of Colorado Arena at UNC in Greeley, and the Bulldogs shared jubilant and bittersweet embraces, capping an exciting and emotional run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started this goal when they were in sixth grade,\u201d added Kibel, of her senior group, \u201cand they stuck with it, worked through every hard practice, every tear we\u2019ve cried when we fell short \u2013 they stayed together through it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kylie Gatlin\u2019s 13 points led the Bulldogs, while Gray added 11 points, and Hickman, 9. Barnett tallied 3 points, while Smith and Kalie Gatlin each picked up 2.<\/p>\n

Durrill led the Bison with 13 points in her final game with the Bison, while junior Emma Cox added 10 in the losing effort.<\/p>\n

In the midst of it all, Kibel has now led the program six consecutive winning seasons, back-to-back 20-win seasons, and a third consecutive appearance in the Great Eight. She credits the student-athletes with making her job easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the reason you coach,\u201d reflected Kibel. \u201cWhen you are around young women who listen to you, have a common goal, and work toward it \u2013 that\u2019s the beauty of this sport. They\u2019re learning things that they\u2019ll carry with them for the rest of their lives. I\u2019ll always cherish watching them grow into the women that they\u2019ve become.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dove Creek posted 23 wins this season, collected a league, district and regional title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bulldogs send off five seniors with historic finish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35302,"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-35301","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\/35301","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=35301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82931,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35301\/revisions\/82931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35301"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}