Friday, December 19, 2008
DAWSON SPRINGS — Jeff Miller’s Dawson Springs Lady Panthers basketball team learned a lot about itself with strong first and fourth quarters during its matchup with Caldwell County on Thursday evening.
Still, the squad could not come away with its first victory of the season.
Down 9-0 to begin the game, the Lady Panthers (0-4) rallied to close the gap to 15-10 at the end of the first quarter. Later, in the fourth, Dawson matched its opposition’s effort and nearly outscored the Lady Tigers (4-0), but the game’s middle quarters heavily favored Caldwell in a 60-33 loss.
“One thing about the girls we didn’t realize — we are fighting as hard as we can,” Miller said. “They did not let down, they did not give up. During that first quarter they showed me a lot of heart, defensively and offensively, and I was very proud of them for that.”
After 60 seconds of play in the first quarter, the Lady Tigers already held a 7-0 advantage and Dawson had yet to advance the ball to its own half of the court.
Savannah Pepper and Jayme Jackson gave the Lady Panther
offense fits as each created multiple steals and converted turnovers into points in transition.
“It goes back to we’re young and our fundamentals are not where they need to be,” Miller said. “They held the ball and didn’t handle the pressure very well. We’re just inexperienced right now.”
Dawson’s inside trio of Shelby Merrell, Brook Randolph and Emilee Workman manufactured the bulk of the Lady Panthers’ production by diligently working in the paint. Back-to-back buckets by Randolph and Merrell cut the Caldwell lead to 11-8 early on.
Pepper and Jackson combined for 10 points during the second quarter while Dawson struggled to find an offensive rhythm. Merrell and Workman were the lone Lady Panthers to knock down field goals in the second quarter as Dawson trailed 31-15 heading into intermission.
Caldwell increased its lead to 24 points with eight minutes remaining, but the Lady Tigers scored just three more points than Dawson during the fourth quarter, 17-14.
“We finally handled the pressure a little bit better,” Miller said of his team’s improvement. “We moved the ball well and if we do that more often, we get more shots and when we did get shots, we knocked them down.
“We got open lay-ups down low and shots outside. We’re just not consistent and that just comes back to we’re a young team.”
Leading the charge for the Lady Panthers in the fourth was Randolph and Workman. Just minutes into the final quarter of play, Randolph nailed consecutive three-pointers to cut the lead to 47-25.
“Brooke, she gets in the corner or any where on the floor and she’s open, she usually hits them,” Miller said.
Workman scored the team’s next four points on a long jumper and then worked coast-to-coast for a layup after a steal.
Randolph finished with a team-high 13 points and Workman represented Dawson’s other double-digit scorer with 10. For Caldwell, Jackson and Pepper paced the Lady Tigers with 17 and 13 points respectively.
CALDWELL COUNTY 15 16 12 17 – 60
DAWSON SPRINGS 10 5 4 14 – 33
Caldwell County (60) — Jayme Jackson 17, Savannah Pepper 13, Emily Meeks 7, Casey Stone 5, Cassie Yates 5, McKenzie Ames 4, Jesse Stone 4, Olivia Newby 2, Laykin Peek 2, Carlyn Williams 1.
Dawson Springs (33) — Brook Randolph 13, Emilee Workman 10, Shelby Merrell 8, Rihana McKnight 2.
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