Lady Bulldogs go winless at divisionals
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PABLO — The Lady Bulldogs were outscored 28-10 in the fourth quarter in a pair of losses to end their season at the Western B Divisional Tournament at the Joe McDonald Health and Fitness Complex in Pablo.
The Lady Bulldogs, who entered the tournament as the third seed from District 7-B, only trailed the Florence Lady Falcons 33-27 heading into the final quarter, but were outscored 15-6 in the fourth to open the tournament with a 48-33 loss Thursday. In the loser-out game Friday, Mission was trailing Valley Christian 28-22, but were outscored 13-4 in the fourth quarter in a 41-26 season-ending loss.
Mission coach Les Rice said events leading up to the fourth quarter made them take more chances and not be able to stick to their original game plan. Against Florence, it was foul trouble that put them behind the eight ball in the fourth quarter and against the Lady Eagles a two-minute stretch at the end of the first half dictated the outcome more than the fourth quarter did, according to Rice.
Against the Lady Falcons, Rice felt that it was five against eight instead of five against five. The Lady Falcons took 24 free throws before the Lady Bulldogs walk to the foul line. The Lady Falcons finished with 34 free throws in the game compared to the Lady Bulldogs eight and have outshot the Lady Bulldogs 77-to-17 in the past two years at the divisional tournament.
“All you ask for is a fair fight and I not sure that was the situation. I was just disappointed and frustrated. That’s two years in a row I don’t feel like we got a fair shake,” Rice said.
The disparity in foul shots not only gave the Lady Falcons free points, it also took Adessa Durglo out of the game. After picking up two early fouls in the first and her third in the second period, Durglo, who was coming off a career-high, 17-point game against Thompson Falls, was a non-factor against the Lady Falcons.
“If she (Durglo) doesn’t score points, we’re going to be in trouble,” Rice said, adding that when Durglo, one of the best rebounders on the team, did get to play the game had already been decided.
Katie McDonald led the Lady Bulldogs with 13 points. Bella Dally added seven and Kyla Mitchell finished with six points.
Rice said that the Lady Bulldogs’ offense was hampered by turnovers caused by the physical and aggressive defense of the Lady Falcons.
“They put a lot of pressure on us and that wears on you. Physically, it wears on you and you start to make mistakes. We had turnovers, but we were hacked, whacked and pushed down. We had a lot of turnovers, but I’m not sure how many were legitimate,” Rice said.
Leading Valley Christian 15-14 with a little more than two minutes to play in the first half, the Lady Bulldogs came up with two steals, but missed the layups on the fastbreak and also missed three of four bunnies underneath the basket and went into the break trailing 19-16 when they should have been up by seven or eight points, according to Rice.
