{"id":41825,"date":"2022-03-07T19:28:32","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T19:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-girls-ace-region-i-test-60-21\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:03:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:03:22","slug":"dove-creek-girls-ace-region-i-test-60-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-girls-ace-region-i-test-60-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Dove Creek girls ace Region I test 60-21"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Tara Buffington accepts the State Championships Qualifier award from Ouray Athletic Director Bernie Pearce after Dove Creek's 60-21 win over Rocky Mountain Lutheran in the Class 1A, Region I, Bracket 2 final Saturday at Grand Junction High School.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

GRAND JUNCTION \u2013 Serenaded by teammates and fans Saturday afternoon with the song \u201cHappy Birthday to You\u201d after Dove Creek\u2019s Class 1A, Region I, Bracket 2 defeat of Rocky Mountain Lutheran, senior guard Shania Kibel\u2019s day couldn\u2019t have gotten much better.<\/p>\n

Having regained Dove Creek the lead with a transition pull-up jumper that put Lutheran down 6-5 early in the first quarter, Kibel later hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer that increased the lead to 23-7 and cashed Dove Creek\u2019s fifth and final trey in the fourth quarter. Her day was capped with a congratulatory hug from head coach and mother Julie Kibel as the San Juan Basin Leaguers secured their spot in the state championships 60-21.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what we\u2019ve worked for all year,\u201d said Julie Kibel. \u201cWe\u2019d set our season goals first for the San Juan Basin League, second was districts, then today we wanted to be a regional winner, believe it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kibel said her only disappointment was the Bulldogs\u2019 man-to-man defense, sacrificed during practices for work on their 1-2-2 zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I felt we were a little sluggish there, but offensively we were right where we want to be,\u201d Julie Kibel said.<\/p>\n

An early two-point basket by sophomore Sophia Thiel and free throw by senior Hailey Rice helped the Denver-based Eagles to a 5-2 lead over Dove Creek, which got on the scoreboard with a pair of free throws by Lexi Gray. Dove Creek starters Tara Buffington and Kylie Gatlin, meanwhile, had been benched by two personal fouls.<\/p>\n

The Lady Bulldogs, however, stormed ahead with a 15-0 run fueled by a Kibel 17-footer, a Barnett three and a Gray bucket in the paint. With 2:04 left in the first quarter, Dove Creek led 15-5.<\/p>\n

\"Dove
Dove Creek coach Julie Kibel and daughter Shania Kibel embrace after the Bulldogs\u2019 60-21 win over Rocky Mountain Lutheran in the Class 1A, Region I, Bracket 2 final Saturday at Grand Junction High School.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek sophomore Kalie Gatlin shoots between Rocky Mountain Lutheran\u2019s Hailey Rice, left, and Ginny Shade during the Class 1A, Region I, Bracket 2 championship Saturday at Grand Junction High School.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek junior Rylee Hickman launches a scoring jumper over Rocky Mountain Lutheran\u2019s Ava Clarke during the Class 1A, Region I, Bracket 2 championship Saturday, at Grand Junction High School.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI think we were still a little flat from the bus ride up,\u201d Gray said. \u201cTook us a while to get all the lead out of our feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s all it was today,\u201d said Barnett. \u201cOnce we started hitting those threes, we were just all calm, and it was back to knowing who we are, what we\u2019re capable of,\u201d she said. \u201cThat \u2018chemistry\u2019 we always talk about was there; it was pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe missed, probably, our first six shots,\u201d noted Julie Kibel. \u201cThen once we got the lid off the basket and started making them, you could just see everybody just get into a rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fouled by RML junior Tiffany Goduto as the second quarter expired, Barnett swished two free throws to send Dove Creek (21-1 overall) to their locker room in control, 42-12. The third quarter ended 47-14.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe watched film, and we knew what kind of defense they were going to run; that\u2019s why our zone break worked so well today,\u201d Barnett said, speaking of the Eagles\u2019 52-4 loss the previous weekend to Westminster Flatirons Academy. \u201cOur defense slacked a little, so that\u2019s just something we\u2019re going to have to improve on for next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having booked three fourth-quarter two-pointers, Gray scored a game-high 20 points. Kibel had 12 points; and Barnett, nine. Sophomore Kalie Gatlin came off the bench to tally seven, and junior starter Rylee Hickman registered six.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe scored deep; that\u2019s what makes me happy,\u201d Julie Kibel said. \u201cIt\u2019s just really cool how we always have a new big scorer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice totaled seven points in defeat; Thiel and sophomore Ginny Shade, six; and senior Nielli Jenkins, two. The 11-10 Eagles went 7 of 18 from the foul line while Dove Creek hit 5 of 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of turnovers and stuff the second half. We could have cleaned that up and had more points,\u201d said Gray. \u201cBut I\u2019m feeling really good. \u2026 All the pieces fell in together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up next, the Lady Bulldogs will meet 20-1 McClave in the Great Eight Thursday at 7 p.m. at University of Northern Colorado\u2019s Butler-Hancock Athletic Center. McClave advanced with a 35-25 win over South Baca County in Region III, Bracket 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked since I was in sixth grade \u2013 elementary school \u2013 together as a group. We\u2019re just so tight. We\u2019ve worked together for so long, and it\u2019s the best feeling to go back to state,\u201d Barnett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody wants to be that team going to the Great Eight,\u201d said Julie Kibel. \u201cAnd I told these girls no one\u2019s going to roll over at this point of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bulldogs sharpen their skills for state\u2019s final 8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[39,28,29,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41825","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=41825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85112,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41825\/revisions\/85112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41825"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}