Greyhounds Fall to Cavaliers
J. C. Tilton
Coach Money later acknowledged that it was a tough draw - Dixie had to face the number one seed Sidney Lehman Catholic in the opening round of the state tournament. The team knew going in that they had an uphill battle, but were gamers all the way to the end.
Dixie mixed up their opening line up a bit, going with a taller team and placing Dunn at point. They soon shifted to a more conventual lineup when this did not gain them much of an advantage in the early going. Defensively Dixie played a match up zone. Lehman played man to man and a few minutes into the game began to mix in some full court pressure. Lehman's cat like defense began to generate turnovers and at the first break Lehman was up by 7, 13-6.
Dixie turned to a 2-3 zone late in the second quarter. Lehman called off their press, but still kept up vigorous defensive pressure in the half court. Dunn was held to just 4 first half points, 2 of them coming from the free throw line. Amanda York found the going tough inside, connecting for just a duce in the first half. At half time Dixie was staring at an 18 point deficit.
In the last half Dixie tried to keep Lehman off balance by shifting their zone defenses. But the Cavaliers had just too many weapons. The Dixie team did a slightly better job of scoring in the second half, but could not close with the Cavaliers. The final was 48 to 29. But the team fought for every basket they scored and contested every possession. When a team gives their best what else is there? Dunn lead the scoring for the Greyhounds with 9. Freytag and Slagle both lead Lehman with 10 points.
Coach Money was asked to comment about the team after the game. “I think they improved a heck of a lot. They stuck together for each other. Sidney can certainly make some noise in this sectional, which is one of the toughest sectionals that I know of. The one thing I told them was if they're going to beat us, make them beat us. I don't think we beat ourselves. The pain will go away soon enough. I'm real proud of them, they played real hard. They were quicker, they were bigger. A positive is that a lot of our underclassmen got tournament experience. Hopefully we can get to that level some day”.
Next question was about his first year, “They were a good group to work with. Each senior had a distinct role on the team. It was great. To finish tied for third in the league. I think the girls got the respect finally. I think they did a lot of the things that the coaching staff impressed upon them. There wasn't a game where the girls quit. I'm happy and I hope the program continues to turn around. It was a privilege to coach them”.
Lastly he was asked to comment on the seniors, “I thought our captains did a nice job this year. We had a spiritual leader of that group. We had a couple of post players helping Randi Bargo a lot. Ashley Bates said some profound things to say, I'm happy that she got to score - she can shoot the lights out when she's hot. They were a class act. There were some little things here and there. But there no major distractions and that was a tribute to them. They were the seniors and it was their team. And the seniors have said, ‘When we come back to visit, you better be at the next level'.”
|