Whether on the road or playing in Glendive, the Lady Bucs basketball team of Dawson Community College have been splitting all of their back to back games. In the last 3 weekends, they’re either winning the first or second game, and losing the other.
On November 30th, DCC traveled to play Sheridan College and lost 43-67. The Lady Bucs would strike first at the beginning of the game scoring the first two baskets. It appeared as if Dawson would stay close in the game with their stifling team defense. However, the Lady Generals would hold off DCC in every quarter. Dawson would only get as close as 1 point in the 3rd quarter losing it 13-14.
Dawson would not only do well on team defense, but they were nearly tied rebounding with Sheridan against a good rebounding team who has been outrebounding their opponents by 15. Both teams also turned the ball over the same with Dawson having 27 and Sheridan 25. The difference in the game was shooting. Dawson shot 23% from the field, 17% from the 3 point range and 58% from the free throw line.
There was no one on the team in double digit scoring. Alexius Foster was close with 9 points. Ejanae Coopwood had 6 points, 10 rebounds, 6 turnovers and 5 steals. Sarah Miranda and Kitawna Little Light would contribute in rebounding, 7 and 5 respectively.
In their second game of the weekend, the Lady Bucs managed to pull out a come from behind win by defeating Northwest College in the last seconds of the game. Dawson was down by 19 points with 5:15 minutes left in the 4th quarter, but the Lady Bucs used a vicious mix of backcourt presses and managed to win the game 69-68. They would convert their steals into points, make some free throws and sink three 3 point shots in the closing minutes.
Having problems with their offensive shooting and decision making, DCC executed when it counted. With 5.3 seconds left and the score tied 67-67, Northwest inbounded the ball at the half court sideline passing to the top of the key in the frontcourt and Alexius Foster was called for a foul trying to intercept. Lady Trapper Selena Cudney missed the first shot at the foul line, and made the second. The Lady Bucs inbounded to Foster who dribbled the length of the court receiving a blind ball screen from Coopwood at mid-court and was fouled driving to the basket. With ice in her veins, Foster made both free throws to put Dawson ahead 69-68. With 1.3 seconds left, Northwest called a timeout again and advanced the ball to half court, and somehow managed to get a pass in the paint only for Cudney to fumble the ball.
Dawson had 12 steals, 16 turnovers and shot a much better 78 percent from the free throw line. They also outscored the Lady Trappers 31-20 in the last quarter. Foster found her scoring attack ending the game with 24 points to go along with 7 rebounds. Coopwood had 14 points and 3 steals. Rebounding contributions came from Maddison Carman with 7 and Sarah Miranda 6. Chynna Torrence came off the bench to score 7 points and get 3 rebounds.
A puzzled Head Coach Romeo Lagmay, Jr. commented on the splits, “We had every opportunity to beat Sheridan, but just couldn’t score. We played great team defense and caused them to have 25 turnovers, had their top scorer scoreless along with two key guards in foul trouble, AND we were neck in neck in rebounding. We just couldn’t put the ball in the basket. Northwest was no different, except that we had low self-esteem in our play, but managed to find our fight again, and use it to our advantage as we knew it would pay off from other games we fought hard in. The players did well in not giving up!”