Lady Demons fall to Guymon on buzzer-beater
The Lady Demons fell to the Guymon Tigers on a buzzer-beater in the closing seconds Tuesday night, losing by a score of 39-37.
The game started tough for the Lady Demons, who out-rebounded the Tigers 15-9 in the first quarter, but because of some early shooting woes went into the second down 9-4.
It was the second time the Red Demons had been held to only four points in the first this season, the last time coming against defending 6A state champion Manhattan.
The second quarter didn’t go much better for the Demons.
A 3-pointer by Dodge City freshman Kisa Unruh in the closing seconds of the second quarter narrowed the deficit to 18-11 at halftime, but in the first half the Red Demons shot only 19.2 percent from the field and 11.1 percent from beyond the arc.
As the second half started, the Demons got back into the game.
They by going on a 7-0 run that forced the Tigers to take a timeout with 5:08 left.
Then, less than a minute later, Unruh hit another 3, which gave the Red Demons their first lead of the game with the score 21-19.
“I thought the girls showed a lot of character, they fought back,” Lady Demon head coach Kelley Snodgrass said. “We got down early. Shots didn’t fall, you know that’s gonna happen, but they showed true character and and fought back and things didn’t go our way down the stretch but I’m proud of their effort.”
Guymon fought back too, even after Dodge City took the lead, but sophomore Chidera Okoro gave the Red Demons the lead at 25-24, and the Red Demons went into the fourth up 26-24. She finished the game with nine points and eight rebounds.
Lady Demon junior Ezinne Okoro finished with six points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
“Ezinne and Chidera do a great job not only rebounding and defensively, they gave us a lot of second-chance opportunities.” Snodgrass said. “We’ve gotta make some of those put-backs but they brought true energy on the press and gave us a shot.”
In the fourth, the game became truly back and forth, as the team’s exchanged the lead multiple times. Unruh gave the Demons the lead at 36-33 after the Tigers tied the game at 33-33.
The Tigers tied the game at 37 with 16.3 seconds left, but a Red Demon turnover almost led to a Tiger lead until Red Demon junior Madison Armstrong blocked a layup attempt with 6.8 seconds remaining.
The Tigers inbounded the ball and as the clock wound down, were able to toss up a floater which beat the buzzer, scoring the final two points in the 39-37 victory for the Tigers.
Meagan Bellar had a game-high 25 for the Tigers while Unruh ended up with a team-high 14 points in the loss.
“We know Kisa’s gonna get hot even if she starts slow, so she’s gotta continue to shoot the ball and she does a great job creating for her teammates as well,” Snodgrass said. “We had a lot of girls score. It’s always been a team-effort with us so we just wish more fell early.”
Snodgrass said despite the loss she was happy with the team’s defense throughout.
“We’ve gotta do a little better job on Bellar, but she’s a great player,” Snodgrass said.
The team now heads into the Christmas break 3-2 overall.
Despite the loss, Snodgrass said she doesn’t think it’ll set the team back at all.
“I think it’ll just drive them,” Snodgrass said. “We’ve got a lot of competitors, so I think they’re just gonna work twice as hard in the break. Obviously we’ll watch film and learn from it, but it’s not always bad to have a reality-check right before a break, because they’re gonna come back and work hard.”
Boys team dominates Guymon, goes into break 2-3
The Red Demon boys basketball team led nearly from start to finish, allowing the Tigers to tie the game only once, at 2-2 in the first quarter.
They ended up dominating the Tigers, winning 91-59 Tuesday night.
They led 25-16 after the first quarter, and led 42-34 at the end of the first half.
Still, head coach Tony Starnes said the team didn’t play up to its potential Tuesday night. Overall the team shot 41 percent from the field in the game.
“The first half I thought we were really pitiful,” Starnes said. “Everyone was in foul-trouble because they’re out of their stance, reaching instead of moving, everyone was a step slow, shots weren’t falling because we were catching ’em standing straight-up instead of catching it ready.”
Dodge City senior Hunter Heath had a strong game for the Red Demons, scoring seven points in the first half and 16 in the game. Heath also led the team with eight rebounds.
Junior Noah Sowers and senior Kaden Riekenberg each led the team with three assists.
Sowers had 12 points, junior Adrian Mendoza had 12 points, Riekenberg had 10 points and junior Cody Ibarra had 10 points.
“I think it was a team-effort,” Starnes said. “We played a lot of people.”
Sowers, Gleason, and Heath all played well, with Heath playing well on defense, while Mendoza played well coming off the bench, Starnes said.
Next Up:
The Red Demons now enter their Christmas break and won’t play another game until calendar-year 2018.
Dodge City’s basketball teams will next be in action when they host the Cimarron Bluejays Jan. 5, 2018 in the Dodge City Field House. The girls varsity teams are scheduled to tip off at 6:30 p.m., while the boys teams take the floor at 8 p.m.
