The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - The Lady 'Dawgs racked up a home- court win in a back-and-forth match against Waitsburg- Prescott at Friday night's league match, walking away 42-26.

The Lady Cards started strong, leading 5-0 midway through the first quarter. Dayton's Sarah Phillips landed the first point for the Bulldogs with a successful foul shot at the four-minute mark. Lexi Ramirez made two more foul shots and Phillips tossed in a 3-pointer, pulling Dayton into the lead 6-5. "I thought we came out a bit tight to start the game as evident from them jump­ing on us 5-0," said Dayton Coach Clayton Strong. "I thought after Sarah made her free throws, we relaxed a little bit on the offensive end."

An impressive 3-point shoA steal and bucket by Mings to start the second set the tone for the quarter. The 'Dawgs added 13 in quarter two - including a second three-pointer by Phillips - while WP moved ahead by five. The Cards put up a good fight, but turnovers and Bulldog steals kept Dayton in the lead.

"Overall, I was pleased with the first half defensively as we started to get back to playing like we know how to play on that end of the floor," said Strong.

The Cards brought in 13 points in the third quarter and three points in quarter four. The 'Dawgs scored 7 in the third quarter and 12 in the fourth, for a final score of 42-26 Bulldogs. "To Waits­burg's credit, they made things difficult in the half court. I thought that in the third quarter we came out lax and Waitsburg got back into it. I thought they did a good job of getting the ball into Fedderson in the post and we didn't apply enough ball pressure and didn't defense her very well. In the fourth quarter we did a much bet­ter job defensively and were able to close out the game," said Strong.

High scorer for the Bull­dogs was Madison Mings with 12 points. She made one three-point bucket and three out of five free throws. Sarah Phillips followed right behind with 11 points, in­cluding two three-pointers. Sidney Andrews scored six points - one bucket and four of six attempted free throws. Lexi Ramirez added five points, Jenna Phillips brought in four and Kaitlyn Andrews and Kianna Price added two each.

Cardinal High scorer was Samantha Fedderson with 12 points, followed by Heidi Miller with five and Paige Wood with four. Chelsey Brannock upped the score by three points and Kassidy Kuykendall added two.

The season is over for the Lady Cards but the Bulldogs move on to face Tri-Cities Prep and DeSales in Friday's post-season league tourna­ment. Game times are yet to be determined.

Friday's game was also senior night for the Bulldogs and senior Lexus Ward was recognized by her family and teammates.