Tigers Overwhelm Greyhounds
J. C. Tilton
None of the local girls teams got good draws in the state tournament. Dixie was no exception, they drew the Versailles Tigers in the opening round. The Tigers pounced on the Greyhounds from the tip off, racing off to a 16-2 first quarter lead. Their press was forcing turnovers and their aggressive man to man defense kept Dixie at bay. Dixie countered with several defenses thru out the game, but to no avail.
The Tigers lead 32-6 at halftime. In the fourth quarter both teams emptied their benches. One bright spot for the Dixie Greyhounds was sophomore Katie Barnes. She made the most of her varsity minutes, performing a hat trick - hitting three treys. This actually made her high scorer for the team. Kelhoffer would score 4, Bargo 4, Leis 2, Bertke 2. The Greyhounds would fall 70-21. The team ended the season with a 6-15 overall record and were 4th in the SWBL Buckeye division.
“I think we were scared before we went out on the court”, remarked Coach May. “We forgot to do the basics - like box out.” Looking to the future, she has plans for the off season, “We have a lot planned for this summer. We want to get them in the weight room. Go to a camp, and then a shootout in Indiana, plus Dixie may host a shoot out of our own. We want to work on speed and agility. Last summer we didn't have a chance to work with them and summers are when your team is built. It's about people putting in the hours in the off season. I think we have a good group that wants to do that. We have a good core of Juniors coming back and our sophomores are strong. We lose 2 good girls in our seniors, but we have a good team coming back.”
Dixie does graduate two seniors, “Abbey Witt gave 110 percent everytime out. When you think about Abbey all you think about is heart. And Sarah Kirby, this is her first time playing and she improved tremendously. When she started, she couldn't do layups or anything.”
I'm sure that Dixie would have liked to finish out the season a little stronger, but it sounds like they have the makings of something better for next year. Comments email: Chris Tilton
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