The Nucla Mustangs struggled with assists on Saturday (the Dove Creek Bulldogs had ten more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Nucla fell 49-42 to Dove Creek. Nucla lost against Dove Creek in their previous head to head back in February, too, but the margin this time around was much closer than the 64-16 score last time.
Despite the loss, Nucla still got an impressive performance from Keiran Bray, who scored 16 points. That's the first time this season that Bray scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Kendra McCluer, who scored six points along with four steals.
Leading Dove Creek to victory were Taylor Hampton and Ralynn Hickman. Hampton dropped a double-double on 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Hickman scored 22 points along with eight rebounds and four steals. Those 22 points set a new season-high mark for Hickman.
Nucla's defeat dropped their record down to 3-3. As for Dove Creek, their victory bumped their record up to 4-2.
Nucla is on the road again on Friday and play against Monticello. Monticello comes in still looking for their first win of the season. Dove Creek and Dolores will face off at 5:00 p.m. on December 15th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Dolores will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Colorado Rankings (they are ranked 238th, while Dove Creek is ranked 110th).
