Red Demons: From Tough Loss to Dominating Win
Dodge City, KS (westernkansasnews.com) It was a wild final weekend before the holiday break for the Dodge City High School basketball teams. From the heartbreak of two close losses at Goddard Eisenhower on Friday night to the joys of big wins against Stanton County on Saturday at home.
Girls Highlights at Goddard Eisenhower
For the girls they dropped their record Friday night to 2-2, losing their second straight 52-51. Dodge City had a pair of eight point leads, but could not contain the dynamic scoring duo of Mallory Miller and Jaden Damon who combined for 46 of the team’s 52 points. The real advantage for the Lady Tigers came from the line hitting 19 of 24 including 11 of 11 from Miller. Dodge went 5 of 12 from the stripe and missed 3 of 4 attempts when one more successful free throw would have tied the game.
The hard part for Dodge City was after a pair of misses from the line by Tia Bradshaw with 2.1 second left, Jessie Harshberger was fouled getting an offensive rebound. Harshberger missed the front end with three-tenths of a second left and despite making the second it meant the Red Demons fell one point short. Both Harshberger and Tia Bradshaw finished with thirteen in the loss.
Coach Kelley Snodgrass Post-game at Eisenhower
It was a great recovery on Saturday for the Lady Red Demons, jumping out to a 23-3 lead through one quarter and held the Lady Trojans to five first half points in a 60-13 win improving to 3-2 on the season.
Girls Highlights, Stanton County
Harshberger hit 10 of her 14 shots scoring 22 and adding 7 rebounds. Tia Bradshaw had 15 points and Kaylyn Maple pulled down 10 boards. The most impressive part was Dodge City had only one turnover the entire game, while forcing 32 from Stanton County. In the win Brianna Bradshaw had eight steals.
Coach Kelley Snodgrass Post-game Comments, Stanton County
For the boys it was much the same story. Losing by one last year to Goddard Eisenhower, Dodge City used a 20 point third quarter to take a 40-39 lead into the fourth, but the Tigers were able to ride their big guy to a 51-49 win.
Boys Game Highlights at Eisenhower
Six foot seven junior Matt Pile scored 20 points, added 17 rebounds and gave prospective schools a good look at a guy who is expected to play ball at the next level. Pile changed a lot of shots too underneath holding the Red Demons to just 30 percent shooting from the field.
Caden Walters scored 12 points going 5 of 9 from the field, Dayton McGroarty added 10 in the loss.
Coach Dennis Hamilton’s Post-game Comments at Eisenhower
Game Highlights, Stanton County
Saturday Dodge City used the power of 20, three quarters where they scored at least 20 points in beating Stanton County 78-46. Four players scored in double figures led by Bryce Unruh’s 16 points. Chris Baker had a career best 14 and Dodge City outrebounded Stanton County 34-22. Kiefer Puyear had 21 points and 6 rebounds in the loss as the Red Demons nearly hit 50 percent of their shots.
Dodge City turned the ball over only four times. The boys and girls combined had only five turnovers over the two games.
Post-game Stanton County Game
Dodge City will be back in action January 5th when they play their first conference game on the road at Great Bend.
