Lady Dawgs’ late effort seals win against Del Valle

DEL VALLE — The Burnet High School girls basketball team defeated Del Valle 42-38 on Dec. 19.

The Lady Dawgs (8-6) trailed 28-27 headed into the final period.

Early in the fourth quarter, Del Valle went on a 10-0 run to go up by five points with about five minutes to play.

But the Lady Dawgs weren’t done. With three minutes left, they mounted a final challenge and tied the contest.

Burnet relied on the playmaking abilities of senior guards Kati Maldonado and Leah Cotton.

Maldonado made a backdoor pass to Cotton, who scored the layup for a two-point advantage with 20 seconds left.

Burnet applied the defensive pressure, forced a jumper and Cotton rebounded the miss. After she was fouled, she hit both free throws with nine seconds left to seal the win.

"It was a big win for the kids, and I was proud of all of them for making the big plays when they needed to make them to win the game on both ends of the floor," head coach Mike Cavender said.

Burnet dropped in 10 points in the first period for a 10-5 lead.

The Lady Cardinals began to chip away at the deficit, trailing 18-14 at the half.

Junior post Bryanika Grady recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points and 15 rebounds. Cotton added 11 points, while Maldonado and freshman guard Riley Scott each scored seven, freshman post Sarah Poe and junior Catherine Hirneisen each scored two points and sophomore Alli Styron finished with one.