LITTLETON — Dakota Ridge’s girls basketball team wasted no time in getting its first victory under new head coach Keegan Bell.
The Eagles grabbed a home win on opening night Monday of the Winter 2022-23 season. Dakota Ridge defeated Brighton 49-40.
“This win is huge,” Dakota Ridge junior Maryn Talyat said after the 9-point victory. “We have a new coach and have been working hard since the summer. We really expected this. It’s really just the first step.”
Dakota Ridge hasn’t had a winning season since the 2018-19 season. The Eagles had a 1-21 record last season. It was nice for the Eagles to already match their win total from last year.
“Get better every single day,” Bell said of his expectations this season. “Every day we are going to grind and get better. We are trying to grow as a program and set our culture. Our culture is we are going to have our hardhats, chop wood and get better.”
Bell played college basketball at Vanderbilt University and also professionally overseas. He was a men’s college coach and boys high school coach in Alabama before deciding to make the move to Colorado. Bell’s older brother and two nephews live in Colorado, so that was another big reason why Bell decided to make the move six months ago.
“They have been working really, really hard. I’ve been really proud of them,” Bell said of his new team. “I defintely believed they could do this. It’s nice to see some positive results. It’s nice to get a win this first game.”
The Eagles had three players in double-digits with senior Mia Boser (13 points), juniors Kayce Brace (11 points) and Talyat (11 points). Brighton had the game’s leading scorer with senior Shelby Musgrove pouring in 16 points, including nine points in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs led 15-11 with 2 minutes to play before halftime, but Dakota Ridge went on a key 8-0 run to close out the half and take the lead.
“That was huge. It was a good burst of momentum,” Talyat said of the 8-0 run to end the first half. “It got us going.”
Talyat, who hardly left the floor the entire night, hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second half to give the Eagles a cushion. Her 3-pointer with 5:55 left in the fourth quarter gave Dakota Ridge its largest lead of the game at that point — 40-32.
Brighton was held to just three field goals in the fourth quarter.
“Our thing is juice. Energy and enthusiasm,” Bell said. “We have some fun players. I’m excited about our future.”
There is another big change besides the coaching staff. The addition of a 6A classification moved Dakota Ridge out of the largest schools classification and into the 5A/4A Jeffco League for the next two-year cycle.
“We are going to try to win league this year and make it to playoffs,” Talyat said.