Lady Dawgs’ defense leads to victories
After holding a narrow 22-20 lead at the half, Burnet watched the Lady Hornets swarm back with a 10-6 run to jump ahead by two going into the final period.
“The game got very exciting in the final stages of the game as both teams fought for the win,” said coach Doug Messer. “Key free throws in the final quarter by Alex Castruita, Makenzie Reynolds, Kaylee Adams, Ashley Doucet and Leah Cotton sealed the victory.”
Messer lauded the defensive effort of his team and signaled out Shelby Lastly for defensive honors. Offensively, Cotton led the Lady Dawgs with 13 points followed by Samantha Young with six, Doucet with five, Peyton Revelle with four and Reynolds with three. Castruita, Hillary Foster, Adams and Lastly all contributed two points each. Anastasia Bingham and Bobby Jackson joined the team late because of the volleyball playoffs and did not see action. The Lady Dawgs shot 13 of 28 from the free-throw line and made 13 two-point baskets.
The squad lost its first two games at the Cedar Park Tournament Nov. 13-15, 22-59 to Cedar Park and 28-30 to Austin Anderson, before blasting Round Rock Stony Point, 52-26.
“Cedar Park was good and dominated the first half of this game,” Messer said. “The Lady Dawgs did regain their balance and composure to finish the game with effort and pride.”
Bingham led Burnet with seven points. Cotton and Revelle added four apiece, while Doucet and Reynolds had two points each and Adams hit a free throw.
Against Anderson, the Lady Dawgs were in a seesaw battle for the lead during the contest but were haunted in the later stages of the game by poor rebounding positioning.
“We played pretty good defense but did not do a good job of blocking out, which allowed Anderson multiple second- and third-chance opportunities,” Messer said.
Anderson won the game in the final seconds on an offensive rebound and put-back. Cotton, Adams and Bingham were the offensive keys with nine, six and five points, respectively. Reynolds, Foster and Doucet each had two points. As a team, the Lady Dawgs hit on three of 10 free throws and connected on 11 two-point baskets and one three-point shot.
In their final tournament game, Burnet was spectacular in their performance by completely shutting down Stony Point.
“We looked like the type of team we’d expect to see this game,” Messer said. “We corrected our earlier mishaps by putting extra emphasis on blocking out and better team defense. This resulted in less scoring for the other team and enabled us to have more chances to score and score we did. Everybody played enthusiastic, with fire and with the intent on winning. ”
Cotton led all Burnet scorers with 16 points. Bingham and Foster were next with 12 followed by Lastly with six points. Three players, Castruita, Young and Doucet, finished with points.
The squad evened its mark at 2-2 on the season.