The Mancos Blue Jays defended their home court on Friday evening against the visiting Dove Creek Bulldogs.
In the varsity opener, the Lady Blue Jays (4-6) used six quick points from Jessica Gutierrez to jump out to an early 11-0 lead, before Dove Creek junior Kris Johnson got the Lady Bulldogs (0-13) on the board with a jumper midway through the first.
The Lady Jays used their pressure defense to force turnovers and got easy looks on the other end to start the second quarter up 19-2.
“We just told them that they have to come out and be more aggressive,” Dove Creek head coach Angie Gatlin said of her team’s first-quarter deficit. “They looked like they were asleep the first half. We changed our defense to a 2-3 zone, because the other (defenses) weren’t working for us, and they just had to wake up and take the ball to them.”
The Lady Bulldogs put together a 4-0 run that included a steal and breakaway score by sophomore LaRissa Randolph, and a bucket by Kiera Baughman on the following possession to make the score 24-8 midway through the second. But Gutierrez scored another seven points in the second quarter to lead the Blue Jays into halftime with a 35-12 lead.
Mancos continued to control the game in the second half – increasing its lead to as much as 30 in the third – and while they would glide on to a 54-30 win, Dove Creek found success against the Lady Jays’ zone defense in the fourth quarter.
Johnson knocked down three more shots in the final frame, and Randolph, Baughman and LaRissa Martin also chipped in for the Lady Bulldogs’ 14 fourth-quarter points.
Johnson and Baughman each finished with eight points for the visiting Lady Bulldogs, and Martin and Randolph each added seven.
“Our overload and triangle zone offenses were working for us,” said Gatlin. “The first of the season our man-to-man offense was working for us and it’s our zone offense working now. So we’ve got to get it to where we can get it all coming together working for us.”
The Lady Jays were led in scoring by Gutierrez with 21, and junior Brittney Peacock had another big night, knocking down jump shots and scoring all of the team’s eight fourth-quarter points, finishing with 17.
“She was just knocking down open shots,” Morgan said of Peacock. “And she’s getting better about looking at the basket.”
Nicole Hess scored nine for Mancos, Emily Cole chipped in four and Emma Most scored two.
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The boys varsity contest was more competitive, but again, the home team prevailed.
Mancos exploited the Dove Creek zone with high-post to low-post passes early, and senior Andrew Plunkett scored the first four points for the Blue Jays.
But they seemed to stray away from the scheme too soon.
“I thought we got a little impatient,” explained Mancos head coach Rodney Cox. “I thought we still had it, but you’re not going to get it the first time you see it, you’re going to have to turn the ball a few times. If we would’ve been a little more patient I think we would’ve had the same looks. There were some other options we didn’t even get to because of that.”
While the Blue Jays found success inside, Dove Creek struck from deep.
Ryan Martinez and Kyle Schultz each knocked down 3-pointers in the opening frame, and although he didn’t score, senior Jordan Ernst assisted on 12 of the Bulldog’s 14 first-quarter points.
“That’s the great thing about having a player like him,” said Dove Creek head coach Ty Gray. “He takes the game what’s given to him. If they’re stepping up on him and he has dishes there, he takes that. But as soon as he feels them start to slide off that, he recognizes it and starts to take it himself.”
The two teams began the second quarter knotted at 14, but the Blue Jays used 3-pointers by Caleb Yoder and Andrew Christensen, and multiple second-chance opportunities to begin to pull away.
The Dove Creek frontline of Beau Hemphill, Dante Gallegos and Spencer Gatlin provided more size than Mancos could counter with, but the Bulldogs’ big men were unable to control the leaping ability of Plunkett and Ro Paschal.
“They battle inside as well as anybody I’ve ever had play for me,” Cox said of his springy seniors. “They just really like to rebound.”
The Blue Jays snagged offensive boards and tipped rebounds out to teammates for extra scoring opportunities – and they capitalized.
Paschal scored nine in the second quarter and put back an offensive rebound as the clock wound down to give Mancos a 35-25 halftime lead.
“It still was just the rebounding that killed us tonight,” Gray said following the game. “Their leapers out-jumped us terribly.”
Dove Creek boxed out better in the second half and limited the opportunities for Paschal and Plunkett inside, and as the pace increased, the game became more guard driven.
Adrian Hernandez opened the third quarter with a triple for Mancos – and hit another three later in the quarter – but Ernst willed the Bulldogs back into it.
Hernandez scored six for the Blue Jays and Plunkett added two, but they managed just eight points in the third quarter compared to Dove Creek’s 14.
The run was fueled by Ernst, who dropped in 11 third-quarter points to pull the Bulldogs within four to start the fourth. But in the final frame, the Blue Jays pushed the tempo.
Leading by eight points with five minutes remaining, the Blue Jays continued to increase their pace to pull away from the Bulldogs for a 63-52 win.
“That’s one of our weak points,” Gray said after the game. “If a team is going to get it out and go quick, we have a hard time transitioning back down the floor – just because we don’t turn and run.”
Dove Creek got as close as six in the final three minutes, but the Blue Jays were able to stall and burn clock and knocked down free throws down the stretch to close out the 11-point win.
Hernandez led the Blue Jays with 21 points, but he contributed just as much on the defensive end, where he was tasked with guarding Ernst for stretches.
“He’s just got good instincts,” said Cox. “He’s getting better every game and he really does a good job running our offense. And defensively, I think he’s one of the best defenders in the league.”
Paschal scored 17 points for Mancos and Plunkett finished with 13. Christensen hit two 3-pointers for six points, Yoder scored four and Griff Huver added two.
Ernst led the visiting Bulldogs with 28 points and Dante Gallegos scored 10 points inside. Schultz connected on two triples for six points, Hemphill added five and Martinez finished with three.
