Dayton Girls Pick Up Three Wins

DAYTON – The Dayton girls' basketball team continued their dominant play last week, beating Pomeroy Tuesday, Asotin Friday and Walla Walla Valley Academy, all on the road and all by more than 10 points.

Dayton 54, Pomeroy 37

Sidney Andrews, Shayla Currin and Madison Mings all scored in double figures, as the Lady 'Dogs rolled to a comfortable win on Tuesday in Pomeroy. Dayton trailed by three at the end of the first quarter, but came back to lead by six, 24-18, at the half.

"We got down early 12-2, but it felt different than the deficit we had against Ritzville the previous Friday," said Dayton coach Clayton Strong. "We were engaged mentally and were aggressively trying to run our offenses. We then chipped at the lead and really buckled down for the most part, especially blocking out."

Andrews finished with 15 points, followed by Currin with 14 and Mings with 12. Andrews also had eight rebounds, and Jenna Phillips had seven.

Dayton 50, Asotin 37

On Friday night in Asotin, Dayton came out strong and dominated the Panthers in the first half, taking a 27-8 lead into the break. They led by more than 20 points in the third quarter, and then hung on for the win.

"We played the first three quarters as well as any beginning three quarters all year," Strong said. "We had kids step up that hadn't necessarily needed to, which was fun to see. In the fourth quarter, things got ratty and we missed some free throws or maybe the end score would have been larger."

For the game, Andrews had 18 points and Currin finished with 12. Currin also had 10 rebounds, and Andrews, nine. Rebounds were the story of the game, with Dayton out-rebounding Asotin 48-16 for the game.

Dayton 58, WWVA 33

The Lady 'Dogs traveled to College Place Saturday and turned a game against WWVA that was close after three quarters into a rout.

Early foul trouble forced Strong to sit some of his starters for much of the first half, and Dayton ended up trailing by two at the break. A switch to zone defense seemed to wake the girls up in the second half and they took a two-point lead into the fourth quarter. The Lady 'Dogs outscored the Knights 24-1 in the fourth to walk away with the win.

"Almost out of necessity we played zone to try and keep our fouling down and it actually benefitted us," said Strong. "The game was only a two-point ball game after three and then we started playing defense again like we are capable of and attacked the rim like we had the night before, which allowed us to get a lot of high quality shots.

"The girls weren't satisfied with how we played but were happy to get a road league win," he added.

The Dayton girls were to take their 10-2 (3-1 league) record on the road to Garfield-Palouse on Tuesday. On Friday, Dayton hosts WP, and on Saturday, they play at home against Tri-Cities Prep.