The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

RICHLAND - The Lady Bulldogs achieved basketball league play-ins this week but were defeated by Liberty Christian 58-41 in a loser-out game Monday.

Players and head coach Scott Hudson remained proud of their season, however. The young women started the year slowly but hit some exciting highs before it was over, Hudson said.

"We played some really good games this year, we really did," he said Tuesday.

The ladies, with several key players out from day one with injuries and illness, struggled in their first few games. They didn't catch a break until beating Lacrosse- Washtucna at the end of December in a non-league game and finally snatching a league win against Walla Walla Valley Academy on Jan. 6.

The Lady Bul ldogs caught fire in mid-January, racking up five more league wins and making Dayton women 6-6 (9-10 overall) and fifth in the league by Monday. Liberty Christian, their final rivals of the 2010- 2011 season, were 4th in the league.

"To give the other team credit, they shot the lights out," Hudson said of the play-in game Monday. "Our defense was not great, but we haven't seen shooting like that before. They were in their home court, and they wanted to win."

The Lady Patriots shot 22 of 44, a 50-percent success rate. "Which is almost unheard of," Hudson said. The Bulldogs shot 16 of 64, or 25 percent.

The Patriots slammed Dayton in the first quarter, gaining a 14-point lead right up front. From that moment on, the Bulldogs couldn't shoot enough hoops to get even close to the lead. They managed to match the Patriots nearly point for point in the next three consecutive quarters, but without gaining any ground it did no good in the end.

Veterans McKayla Bickelhaupt and Nicole Lambert led the team with 12 points each.

Against Tri-Cities Prep on Saturday, the Lady Dogs did better, narrowly earning their final league victory of the season, 49-47.

The game in Pasco was close throughout, but Dayton persevered and quarter by quarter inched its way to the top.

The close win was a relief to the team, who lost a little momentum Friday evening after a sound thrashing by the DeSales Lady Irish. De- Sales took the victory there with a 28-point lead.

"We kinda lost it from the beginning," said Lady Bulldog Malia Frame.

Teammate Darci Hall agreed: "Mostly we just didn't show up to play until later."

Which was too late, as it turned out. DeSales scored 18 points for Dayton's eight in the first quarter and 11 for the Bulldogs' three in the second. By the half, the Irish led by 18 points.

Junior Anita Jackson, however, hit a high Friday night despite the frustration felt by her teammates. Jackson, who usually plays junior varsity, scored one point against the tough DeSales ladies during the varsity match.

Like Jackson, the other ladies on the team were young this year. Hudson worked with a line up that included mostly juniors and some sophomores - no seniors.

"For us, the bright spot is that everybody's coming back next year," he said. "By keeping the core group together, we're not going to have to reinvent the wheel. I think next year we'll be pretty successful, and from the conversation in the locker room Monday, the girls think so too."

The ladies "came a long, long way" this year. "And their attitude is that they want to work hard off season this summer, and just continue to get stronger."