By: John Zetmeir
ULYSSES 34, LADY DEMONS 33
It looked like the Dodge City High School girls basketball team had Tuesday night’s game against the Ulysses Tigers in the bag.
Ulysses was held scoreless for the first 7 minutes and 39 seconds of the fourth quarter on Tuesday night as the Red Demons built a 33-28 lead. In the final 21 seconds of the fourth quarter, the Tigers scored six unanswered points to escape with a 34-33 win over Dodge City.
A pair of free thr
ows by Alyssa Castilleja cut the lead to 33-30 with 21.3 seconds to play. A jump shot by Ulysses’ senior Gina Ballesteros made it a one-point game with just under 15 seconds to play before the Tigers forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds play.
Ballesteros was fouled with 11 seconds to play and gave the Tigers a 34-33 lead by knocking down a pair of free throws.
“We worked a lot on end of game situations,” Dodge City head coach Kelley Snodgrass said. ‘Being ahead, handling pressure and the girls did decent in practice. Obviously in the game, they did not execute at the end.’
The Red Demons (4-10, 0-4) trailed all of the third quarter before taking a 30-28 lead with 4:45 to go after a 3-pointer by sophomore Madison Armstrong gave the team its first lead since the halftime break. A pair of free throws by Dodge City senior Kaylyn Maple with 59.6 seconds to play in the third quarter snapped a 9-0 run by Ulysses which helped the Tigers build a 25-18 lead.
Dodge City will try to rebound from Tuesday night’s loss at Nickerson on Friday night.
ULYSSES 67, DODGE CITY BOYS 57
The Ulysses Tigers got out and ran all night against the Dodge City Red Demons on their way to a 67-57 win.
The Red Demon could not keep the Tigers out of transition as Ulysses piled up easy baskets off of steals. The Tigers built a 47-26 lead in the third quarter with a 10-0 run after back to back baskets by Dodge City cut the Tigers’ 13-point halftime lead down to nine.
The Red Demons fought back to trim the 21-point deficit down to nine in the fourth quarter.
Ulysses built that 13-point halftime advantage by making 15-of-22 shots from the field in the first half.
The Red Demons (2-12) will take on Nickerson this Friday before hosting Manhattan on Saturday.
Dodge City girls – 9 9 8 7 – 33
Ulysses – 9 7 12 6 – 34
Dodge City – Bradshaw 8, Maple 7, Armstrong 6, Ontiberos 4 , Okoro 3, Okoro 3, Nelson 2. 11-33, 2-8 3PT, 9-15 FT. 33
Ulysses – Castilleja 14, Ballesteros 11, Oglevie 4, Bower 3, Gomez 2. 9-31, 4-11 3 PT, 12-23 FT. 34.
Dodge City boys – 13 9 14 21 – 57
Ulysses – 11 24 16 16 – 67
Dodge City – Heath 23, Baker 9, Riekenberg 7, Sowers 7, Gleason 5, Johnson 3, Williams 2, Unruh 1. 21-47, 4-18 3PT, 11-19 FT. 57
Ulysses – Romero 19, Taylor 12, Zerr 11, Garcia 10, Perez 8, Padua 7. 25-43, 4-12 3PT, 13-25 FT. 67
