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The Dupo Lady Tigers Varsity Basketball Team served notice to their opponents that this season will not be the same as Lady Tiger’s teams of the past as they opened their season with a win at home against the New Athens Lady Yellowjackets winning 48-29. Showing tenacity, court savvy, intensity and enthusiasm the Lady Tigers took it to the New Athens squad and could be a force in the Cahokia Conference Mississippi Division this season.
The game was close in the first quarter as both teams shook off the rust and got into the flow of the game. But the Lady Tigers took the lead and kept it leading 9-7 after the first quarter. In the second quarter Dupo took over using a full court press to create turnovers. Those turnovers resulted in Lady Tiger points as Dupo outscored New Athens 15-7 in the second quarter to take a 10 point lead at the half 24-14.
In the third quarter New Athens did a better job of handling the Lady Tigers press and slowed the tempo down in their favor, using their half-court offense to stay in the game as they outscored Dupo 9-8 in the quarter and cut the Lady Tiger lead to nine points at 32-23. But the Lady Tigers, who held the lead the entire contest, came roaring back in the fourth quarter using man-to-man pressure to force errors that created offensive opportunities. And the Lady Tigers cashed in on those opportunities as they outscored the Lady Yellowjackets 16-6 in the final frame to win 48-29.
I asked Dupo Lady Tigers Head Coach Jill Puckett for her assessment of the game and she responded, “I was impressed with our team tonight. We ran the press pretty well but there are still plenty of things to work on. Our defense was good but we need to improve offensively, we still miss too many scoring opportunities and that will have to change as we get deeper into the schedule. But this was a good start to the season.” Coach Puckett also weighed in on the teams lack of size on the floor and in total number of players. “We’re a small team and that’s just the way it is. We were very young last year, but we still have pretty much the same girls out for the team this year and they’ve been playing together for awhile now. You can see that starting to pay off on the floor now.”
The Lady Tigers had three players score in double digits for the game as they were led by Kylie Hofstetter (15 points, 4 of 6 on free throws), Kaitlyn Donald (11 points, 3 of 6 on free throws) and Margaret Davenport (11 points, 3 of 7 on free throws). Kelcie Ragsdale also chipped in 7 points and played well defensively coming off of the bench.
The win advances the Lady Tigers in the winner’s bracket of the Cat Classic to Thursday night’s 6:00 p.m. contest against the other Monday night winner, the Waterloo Lady Bulldogs who defeated the Lady Pirates of Valmeyer 60-23. If the Lady Tigers win they will advance to the Cat Classic Championship Game Saturday night, November 21st, at the Dupo Community High School Gymnasium.
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