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The first eight minutes of basketball didn't go as planned for the Dodge Cit Lady Demons, but they sure played like a contender for the final 24.
After falling behind early in the contest, the Demons found themselves struggling from the floor and staring at 10-4 deficit at the end of the first quarter.
However, behind the strong guard play of Alexis Sanchez, Brenna Briggs and Ashley Stephenson, DCHS was able to use spurts of nice play to hold the Lions to three second quarter points and escape the halftime buzzer with a 13-13 tie.
The crew would come out all hands on deck in the second half, using a suffocating defense to force Goddard into 26 team turnovers, finishing the game with 16 steals. Many of those robberies on the defensive side turned into east transition points for the Demons, when scoring was at a premium in a defensive slugfest.
Once again, the Demons would render the Lion offense virtually worthless in the third quarter, allowing their opponent to only score five points in the frame, all while jumping out to a 25-18 lead.
The girls would jump out to a double digit cushion early in the fourth quarter and never really looked back, despite Goddard doing their best to play catch up.
All in all, Dodge would seal the deal with a 37-26 victory to capture their first win of the year after a heartbreaking 51-48 double overtime loss to begin the season against Wichita East.
Leading the way for the Demons was Sanchez, who led the team in points with nine and also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, including four on the offensive end.
Not far behind Sanchez was Briggs and Stephenson, who both added in seven points of their own and combining for 10 of the team's 16 steals, four for Briggs and six for Stephenson.
The team was led in assists by Ciera Lampe who finished with five, and she also added in a game-high five blocked shots for a defense that held Goddard to only eight made shots and just below 23% for the game.
Offensively, the Demons couldn't buy a bucket for most of the night, but still wound up shooting 33%, but did shoot just over 47% in the second half. The squad also finished seven of eight from the free throw line.
For head coach Justin Briggs, the team made some key adjustments to allow them to come back for the win.
"We were a little more patient on the offensive end, I think we tried to force things a bit in the first half and we finally settled in and were more patient," Briggs said. "During halftime we just talked about unforced turnovers, I believe we had 16 or 17 and that's 10 too many. We talked about keeping it under control, not forcing things, but still attack the basket."
The team has had to rely on its defense to keep the team afloat, but Briggs will continue to apply pressure as the team's main weapon on a team filled with speedy girls.
"I'd like to play more man, problem is we tend to get in foul trouble when we do that, so we'll have to rely on our zone a little more than I'd like to, but our zone is pretty active and I think, for the most part, our girls are doing a great job," Briggs said.
DCHS will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 10, as they take part in their final home game of the 2011 portion of the calendar, as Goddard Eisenhower pays a visit to the field house. Tip off is set for 3 p.m. with the guy's game beginning 20 minutes after the conclusion of the girl's contest.
The first eight minutes of basketball didn't go as planned for the Dodge Cit Lady Demons, but they sure played like a contender for the final 24.
After falling behind early in the contest, the Demons found themselves struggling from the floor and staring at 10-4 deficit at the end of the first quarter.
However, behind the strong guard play of Alexis Sanchez, Brenna Briggs and Ashley Stephenson, DCHS was able to use spurts of nice play to hold the Lions to three second quarter points and escape the halftime buzzer with a 13-13 tie.
The crew would come out all hands on deck in the second half, using a suffocating defense to force Goddard into 26 team turnovers, finishing the game with 16 steals. Many of those robberies on the defensive side turned into east transition points for the Demons, when scoring was at a premium in a defensive slugfest.
Once again, the Demons would render the Lion offense virtually worthless in the third quarter, allowing their opponent to only score five points in the frame, all while jumping out to a 25-18 lead.
The girls would jump out to a double digit cushion early in the fourth quarter and never really looked back, despite Goddard doing their best to play catch up.
All in all, Dodge would seal the deal with a 37-26 victory to capture their first win of the year after a heartbreaking 51-48 double overtime loss to begin the season against Wichita East.
Leading the way for the Demons was Sanchez, who led the team in points with nine and also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, including four on the offensive end.
Not far behind Sanchez was Briggs and Stephenson, who both added in seven points of their own and combining for 10 of the team's 16 steals, four for Briggs and six for Stephenson.
The team was led in assists by Ciera Lampe who finished with five, and she also added in a game-high five blocked shots for a defense that held Goddard to only eight made shots and just below 23% for the game.
Offensively, the Demons couldn't buy a bucket for most of the night, but still wound up shooting 33%, but did shoot just over 47% in the second half. The squad also finished seven of eight from the free throw line.
For head coach Justin Briggs, the team made some key adjustments to allow them to come back for the win.
"We were a little more patient on the offensive end, I think we tried to force things a bit in the first half and we finally settled in and were more patient," Briggs said. "During halftime we just talked about unforced turnovers, I believe we had 16 or 17 and that's 10 too many. We talked about keeping it under control, not forcing things, but still attack the basket."
The team has had to rely on its defense to keep the team afloat, but Briggs will continue to apply pressure as the team's main weapon on a team filled with speedy girls.
"I'd like to play more man, problem is we tend to get in foul trouble when we do that, so we'll have to rely on our zone a little more than I'd like to, but our zone is pretty active and I think, for the most part, our girls are doing a great job," Briggs said.
DCHS will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 10, as they take part in their final home game of the 2011 portion of the calendar, as Goddard Eisenhower pays a visit to the field house. Tip off is set for 3 p.m. with the guy's game beginning 20 minutes after the conclusion of the girl's contest.
