Lady Bulldogs Go 3-0

DAYTON - Dayton's Lady Bulldogs hit the court with aggressive speed last Tuesday night to take down the River View Panthers, 48-24.

The Bulldogs wanted the ball right out of the gate and worked to keep the Panthers from scoring.

The Dogs opened the second period leading the Panthers, 11-7. The Panthers lost steam, unable to hit the net or even maintain posses­sion of the ball.

The Bulldogs put the ball up to score in circles around the Panthers. The Panthers were only able to put up three points in the second period, all in free throws, ending the half with a score of 23-8, Bulldogs.

The Panthers came back from halftime ready to fight back, but couldn't close the gap. The Bulldogs pressed on and kept possession, ending the third period, 40- 22, Bulldogs.

The Panthers lost their fight at the end of the game, scoring only one two-point­er before the clock ran out. The Bulldogs ended the game with a final score of 48-24, Bulldogs.

Head coach Clayton Strong said last year the team improved, but didn't have the results to back it up. This year, with their now 3-0 record, the team, with five seniors, has the record to back up their progress.

Strong said the girls need to continue to work on of­fensive execution, but that the skill will continue to improve with time.

Dayton vs. Kennewick

Dayton's experience and maturity overcame a scrap­py Class 3A Kennewick junior varsity girl's team during a crucial stretch at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and delivered the Bulldogs their second win of the season, 46-37.

The Lady Bulldogs bolt­ed to an early 12-4 lead in the first period, before the Lady Lions switched to a more effective zone defense. The Lions offense got on track at the same time, resulting in a 21-21 tie going into the locker rooms at the half.

The game remained close until 2:47 of the third when Dayton's Jessica Tate threw Kennewick's Nyakier Deng to the floor as the two wres­tled for a held ball. Deng's head hit the hardwood with a thunderous clap, and the Kennewick sophomore rolled on the ground clutch­ing the back of her head. Both teams returned to their benches and endured a half hour delay before Deng was taken out of the gym on a stretcher to a waiting ambu­lance.

Both teams were given 3 minutes to warm up again before play continued, but only Dayton got hot. The Bulldogs dashed to a 9-point advantage, 38-29, thanks to an 11-3 run after the stop­page. The Bulldogs pushed the lead to 11 after Lexie Ramirez's jumper at 2:55 of the fourth. The Lions closed back to seven with 1:23 remaining, but another Ramirez two-pointer at 1:05 put the game out of reach.

"When they went to the zone, we weren't patient," Dayton coach Clayton Strong said. "It was one pass and shoot, one pass and shoot. We've got a lot work to do on executing in the half-court and we need to take care of the ball better."

Turnovers plagued both teams as the two squads combined for 66 turnovers. Dayton lost the ball 28 times. Fouls also plagued both squads. Play stopped 30 times for foul shots. Day­ton hit 18-of-32, while Ken­newick scored on only 11- of-25 from the stripe. The game started at 5:15 p.m. and finished up at 8 p.m.

"Part of (putting the win­ning run together in the fourth quarter) is the fact that those seven girls have played in that type of game before, and have some ma­turity," said Strong. "A year ago, I don't know if we would have won that game, because we were still learn­ing how to do things. When we needed to pick it up to­night, we did."

Dayton was led in scoring by Courtney Fuller's 14 points. Fuller did most of her damage from the foul line where she hit on 10 of 14 attempts.

"I've loved the effort out of the girls so far this sea­son," said Strong. "We knew there'd be some things that would be ratty at the start of the season, but the effort and the cohesiveness of this team as a group this early is the thing I'm most happy with."