Lady Bulldogs Take League Tournament Crown

WAITSBURG – The Dayton girls' basketball team held on Monday night to defeat a relentless Asotin team, 52-50. The win garnered the Lady 'Dogs the District 9 league tournament and number-one seed going into the sub-regional tournament next week.

Dayton moved into Monday's winners' bracket after defeating Tri-Cities Prep in Saturday's first round, 46-37. The Bulldogs faced Asotin, after the Lady Panthers upset league champion DeSales, a team Dayton lost to twice during the regular season – their only league losses of the year.

On Monday, the Lady Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead, up 13-8 after the first quarter. The second quarter featured successful three-point shots by Dayton's Madison Mings and Sarah Philips, and their team took a 29-22 lead into the half.

Two quick fast-break layups to start the second half, followed by a third midway, bumped the Dayton lead to 13. But the Lady Panthers fought back, and trailed 44-35 after three.

Asotin played an aggressive zone defense for much of the game, which caused the Dayton girls difficulty inside.

"Late in the game, we didn't attack the zone as well as we could have," said Dayton coach Clayton Strong. "We weren't used to the physical play, and we stopped doing what we needed to do."

With just under six minutes left in the game, Asotin cut the lead to 44-41, on a three-point play. Dayton's Sidney Andrews hit two free throws with four minutes left and then got an open layup, as the Lady Bulldogs built the lead back to five, 48-43.

Dayton and Asotin free throws, but an Asotin three-pointer cut Dayton's lead to 49-46, with 1:44 remaining. Andrews hit one of two free throws at 1:27, to make it 50-47. She then stole the ball, but missed a layup and fouled the Asotin rebounder. It was her fifth, fouling her out of the game with a minute left.

After two missed Asotin free-throws, Dayton's Lexie Ramirez was fouled immediately on the inbound pass, but she missed both free throws. With 38 seconds left, Sarah Phillips was fouled and missed two shots from the line.

An Asotin three-pointer with 14 seconds left tied the score at 50. Ramirez again was fouled on the inbound pass, at the 11-second mark, but this time she sealed the win, sinking both free throws.

For the game, the Lady Bulldogs shot 18 of 34 from the free throw line, but missed free throws late, kept the game closer than it might have been.

"There was a fatigue factor and girls were tired," Strong said. "We're going to work on getting rested before Monday's game.

For the game, Jenna Phillips led Dayton with 12 points, including six-for-six shooting from the free throw line. Madison Mings had 11 points and Andrews had nine.

Dayton 46, TCP 37

On Saturday, Dayton fell behind early to Tri-Cities Prep, trailing 13-6 after a quarter, but drew to within two at the half, trailing 22-20. The Lady 'Dogs outscored the Jaguars 26-15 in the second half, to cruise to a 46-37 victory.

Ramirez led her team with 12 points, followed by Andrews' eight. Josilyn Fullerton led Dayton with six rebounds.

On Monday, Dayton travels to West Valley High in Spokane to play the loser of the Colfax-N.W. Christian game, which was to be held Thursday.