Lady Bulldogs Edge Out Cardinals

DAYTON - The Dayton girls basketball team dropped Waitsburg-Prescott 37-34 Saturday night to keep its 2012-13 record spotless, thanks to superior free throw shooting in the second half.

WP held the advantage in that category at halftime, hitting on 3-of-4 attempts. Meanwhile the Bulldogs managed just five makes on fifteen tries.

In the second half, the Lady Dogs turned those numbers around nailing 8-of-9 third quarter tries and 11-of-17 for the half. The Cards missed six of their first eight free throw attempts in the half and connected on just 3-of-13 in the third and fourth quarters combined.

"If we could make a free throw or a lay-in, we might be all right," WP head coach Jerry Baker said. "That was pretty much the ball game for us."

WP's shooting woes from the field were nowhere more apparent than in the second quarter. After bolting to a 12-6 first quarter lead, WP's offense went dormant. The Cards connected on just 1-of-14 from the field in the period. Dayton outscored the Cards 10-6 in the quarter and held a thin 2-point advantage at halftime.

That advantage disap- peared completely as Dayton scored the first eight points of the third completing a 13-0 run that spanned 5:30 of the second and third quarters. WP nearly regained the lead with three consecutive field goals - Chelsey Brannock and Samantha Moss deuces and a Krystal Harris trey- against just two Dayton free throws. But trailing 26-25, Brannock couldn't connect on either of her shots from the charity stripe. Dayton re- sponded with another 6-2 run building the lead back to five, 32-27, at the third quarter intermission.

Brannock scored on WP's first possession of the final period, but the Cards' Stacia Deal and Samantha Fedder- son failed on four free throws that could have earned them the lead by the 6:30 mark. Fortunately for WP, Dayton's offense cooled drastically at the same time keeping them in the game. The Bulldogs made only one field goal the rest of the way.

Cardinal Katy Hofer closed the gap to 34-30 with one made free throw at the 3:19 mark. Hofer followed up with a 10-footer in the paint to make it 34-32. WP's Heidi Miller had a chance to tie the game at 1:59, but missed both free throw at- tempts. Finally, with 29 ticks left, WP did tie it thanks to an Enedina Fuentes put back after consecutive offensive rebounds.

But WP's elation was short-lived. Dayton's McK- ayla Bickelhaupt took the inbounds pass end-to-end driving down the left side and drawing the foul while mak- ing her 6-foot jump shot.

Bickelhaupt missed her free throw. Harris took the ball for WP and streaked to the other end for a shot. Bull- dog Sarah Phillips fouled her on the drive sending Harris to the line for a 1-and-1. Harris missed and the Bulldogs took possession. Malia Frame's free throw with two seconds left sealed the 37-34 victory for Dayton.

"We told them we had to hit adversity right back in the mouth," Bulldog head coach Clayton Strong said of his team's third quarter scoring run after trailing at halftime. "With Courtney (Fuller) go- ing down, getting hurt, we had to find something deep within ourselves to come out and play. We were able to do that and extend the lead a bit. But then we got impatient and didn't take care of the ball like we could have. It's part of growing pains, but we feel fortunate we came out with a W."

Fuller left the game in the first quarter, with a right knee injury. She did not return. She was scheduled to have an MRI Monday to determine the extent of the damage.

"It hurts like crazy right now," Strong said of his se- nior guard and second leading scorer's knee. "Hopefully she's all right and she'll be back on the floor next Thurs- day."

Dayton's narrow win bumps its record to 6-0 on the season, 2-0 in league play. WP falls to

The Lady Bulldogs notched their fifth win of the season Friday in Asotin. Dayton used a balanced team scoring effort to overcome a first half deficit and pick up the victory 37-34. The Bull- dogs were led by McKayla Bickelhaupt's nine points and 12 rebounds. Sarah Phillips and Samantha Harting each added eight points.

"Sam Harting had a huge putback for us that put us up one with about a minute left," Dayton coach Clayton Strong said. "Then Sarah Phillips hit an 8-foot jumper with about 30 seconds left that put us up three. Then (Phillips) took a charge at the end of the game that gave us the ball back, when they were trying to rush the ball up the court to get a three. We had kids that stepped up and made plays down the stretch. It wasn't any one girl in particular. Each of them did something."

WP scored its second win of the season and first in league play Friday with a 41-34 victory over Tri-Cities Prep.

The Cards came out of the cage fast boasting 16 points in the first quarter and a 5-point lead entering the second. WP extended the lead to nine points at break, 24-15, but gave nearly all of it back in the third. The Cardinals owned the fourth quarter nailing 7-of-13 free throws including all four attempts by WP leading scorer Krystal Harris to seal the win.

"Tri-Cities Prep has a pretty quality team. We had to play one of our best games of the season to beat them," said WP coach Jerry Baker. "We still struggled from the free throw line. We missed some easy shots again. The difference was we hit some shots down the stretch toward the end of the game. We made our free throws when we needed to then, and that's what kept us in the ballgame. We made seven free throws in the fourth quarter. We still didn't shoot well. We were still only 9-for-21 which is still terrible. But when we needed to there at the end we put them in there."

Harris led all scorers with 20 points including a perfect night at the foul line and two 3-point baskets. Dayton puts its perfect record on the line next on Thursday at Pome- roy. WP tries to turn things around Saturday at Mac-Hi in Milton-Freewater.

Cardinals vs Bulldogs

WP12697-34 Dayton 6 10 16 5 - 3 7

FG: WP 11-54 20%; Dayton 10-37 27%.

FT: WP 6-17 35%; Dayton 16-32 50%.

Rebounds: WP 38, Dayton 22.

Turnovers: WP 25, Dayton 33.

WP: Harris 13 points, Hofer 8 rebounds.

Dayton: Bickelhaupt 16 points, 8 rebounds.