Dodge City girls cruise to Goodland Tournament crown

(Courtesy of Dodge City High School Athletic Department)

GOODLAND, Kan. — It would only be natural for Head Coach Kelley Snodgrass to keep pounding into her team the need to keep their focus on the big prize – a trip to Koch Arena in Wichita for the 6A State Tournament.  However, Saturday night felt like a good time to just enjoy the present as the Lady Demons cruised to the Topside Tip-Off Classic Championship defeating a young and talented Goodland team  (58-37) to claim the crown.

The Lady Demons (4-0) came out quickly hitting two 3-pointers in the first few possessions and neither of them from the two Dodge City players that had competed earlier in the finals of the tournament 3-point contest.  Lauren Gleason hit the first 3-pointer of the game giving the Lady Demons a lead (4-3) they would not relinquish.  On the next possession Becca Unruh put the Demons up (7-3) and Dodge City was off and running.  Kisa Unruh and Amaya Perez followed up with 3-pointers of their own and the Lady Demons led (13-7) at the end of the first quarter on the strength of their outside shooting.  Undefeated Goodland could find no relief from defending the arc as Camree Johnson kept making them pay at the rim as she poured in a team high 20 points. The Unruh sisters each finished with 12 points each.  Once again, the Lady Demons effectively shared the ball resulting in 17 assists for the game. 

On her final shot of the night, Kisa Unruh tied Brenna Briggs for the school career record for points at 848.  Unruh also won the tournament’s 3-point contest earlier in the day.  Lauren Gleason, Camree Johnson, and Kisa Unruh were all selected to the All-Tournament Team.

Head Coach Kelley Snodgrass:  “Overall I was very happy with the weekend.  On day three we starter showing a few mental errors and fatigue.  The Championship game was not our best performance with too many turnovers, but Goodland also had a scrappy defense.  We had some great individual highlights with Kisa Unruh tying the school record and both Kisa and Camree in the 3-point contest finals.  Camree had dominating performances in all three games averaging 18 ppg for the weekend.  We continue to play great team basketball and every player impacted the game in a positive manner.  I want the girls to enjoy this but we cannot be satisfied as we have a great deal more to accomplish this season.”

The #8 ranked (6A) Lady Demons (4-0) next play at Ulysses on Tuesday night at 6pm.