Cardinals Prove Too Much For Dogs

WAITSBURG - Unseating the Asotin Panthers from their top spot in the league this weekend gave the WP Cardinals the momentum to beat the Lady Bulldogs Monday night, 55-35.

Dayton lost against the Panthers last Friday.

"We went cold," Bulldog head coach Clayton Strong said. "They made a run and we never recovered."

Hailey Goenen opened the Cardinals' scoring drive with a trey, followed by several WP lay ups that quickly put her team ahead, 9-2. With lay ups from Nicole Lambert and Shelby Smith, the Bulldogs struggled back to within two points at 11-9, but still ended the period down, 16-10.

"We've been playing a lot more consistently," WP head coach Jerry Baker said. "We changed our defense from zone to man-to-man several times and that got (the Bulldogs) a little confused."

A free throw from Courtney Fuller opened the scoring in the second quarter. Dayton showed renewed tenacity during the first half of the second quarter with field goals from Lexie Ramirez and lay ups from Shelby Smith that pushed their team ahead, 18- 16, by the fifth minute of the period.

"I thought Dayton came in and played hard," Baker said. "Those girls always scare me."

But several free throws from Dionna Baker, followed by steals and breakaways from Kristin Potter, allowed the Cardinals to catch up and pass the Bulldogs on the scoreboard. The half ended, 29-18, in favor of the birds.

"Potter, (Ronnie) Hulce and Baker - they know how to make plays," Strong said. "But I thought Sam (Samura Miller), McKayla (Bickelhaupt), Shelby (Smith) and Malia (Frame) played Ronnie and Dionna well."

But not well enough to contain their scoring drive, which continued unabated into the second half. Despite brave lay-up attempts from Jessica Tate and Lambert, the Cardinals widened the scoring gap, 35-27, by the end of the third.

Baker and Krystal Harris picked up where they left off in the fourth quarter, answered by Lambert and a trey from Bickelhaupt. A trey from Harris took even more wind out of the Bulldogs' sails and with 1:30 to go in the game, Baker put in his bench. The score was 53-32 at that point. The final score was 55-35.

"We did a good job getting in the passing lane," Baker said. "We reduced our turnover rate from 15 in the first half to 6 in the second."

The Cardinals are heading to DeSales on Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs play Liberty Christian on Friday.

WP vs Dayton

55-35

WP 16 11 8 20 55 Dayton 10 8 9 8 35

Top scorers (WP): Kristin Potter 19; Dionna Baker 11; Ronnie Hulce 11; Krystal Harris 5; Taylor Doepker 4 and Hailey Goenen 4. FT: 6/ 10 for 60 percent

Top scorers (Dayton): Lexie Ramirez 9; McKayla Bickelhaupt 8; Jessica Tate 5; Shelby Smith 4 and Samura Miller 3. FT: 7/21 for 33 percent.