Basketball Recap: Douglas County Takes a Loss

Douglas County played a tough match on Tuesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They had to suffer through a 77-46 loss at the hands of the ThunderRidge Grizzlies. While losing is never fun, the Huskies can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 140th, while the Grizzlies are ranked seventh).

Gavin Dale

Points (Career)

02/18/25 @ ThunderRidge	27
02/11/25 vs Ponderosa	23
12/08/23 vs Legacy	20
12/12/23 @ Air Academy	18
01/31/25 @ Mountain Vista	16

Despite the loss, Douglas County still got an impressive performance from Gavin Dale, who went 7-for-15 to rack up 27 points. Those 27 points gave Dale a new career-high. Karson Smukler also deserves some recognition as he posted his first block of the season.

It was another big night for Drew Paine, who dropped a double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds for ThunderRidge. Paine is also on a roll when it comes to shooting accuracy, as he's posted one of at least 50% in the last 12 games he's played. Sean Morton was another key player, putting up 12 points and four steals.

Douglas County has been struggling recently as they've lost 11 of their last 14 games, which has put a noticeable dent in their 6-16 record this season. As for ThunderRidge, the victory was the seventh in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 17-5.

Looking ahead, Douglas County will head out to face off against Heritage at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Heritage's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last six contests. As for ThunderRidge, they will be playing at home against Highlands Ranch at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The timing is sure in ThunderRidge's favor as the squad sits on four straight wins at home while Highlands Ranch has been banged up by four consecutive losses on the road.