GIDDINGS—It’s not often that a team that misfires on 45 shots has a chance to actually win the game they are competing in.
Luckily for the Thorndale Lady Dogs, their defense made up for any offensive deficiencies.
The No. 19 Lady Dogs smothered Iola 57-28 in the Class 2A, Region IV bi-district round of the state basketball playoffs.
District 25-2A champion Thorndale moves on to the area round against the Weimar Friday at a time and place to be determined.
This is the Lady Dogs’ 16th straight playoff appearance.
Iola, fourth in District 26-4A behind No. 18 Snook, ends the season at 9-19.
Employing a zone press, the Lady Dogs harassed Iola into 38 turnovers and allowed them to get off just 26 shots from the floor.
Conversely, Thorndale fired up 67 shots, converting 22.
“The ball started going in the basket,” said Thorndale Coach Bradley Dickerson. “We hadn’t played in a week and haven’t had all our starters together in four games. I think that with the fact that it was the first playoff game.”
Iola concentrated on cutting off Lady Dog leading scorer Kylie Buchanan’s route to the basket by surrounding her, but the hard-nosed senior still broke free for 17 points.
Senior Caitlin Garcia gave Thorndale a boost with 13 points, including seven straight to open the third quarter to provide the Lady Dogs with their first double-digit lead.
Thorndale missed 17-of-20 shots in the first quarter including its first 14 before Devin Dickerson’s putback for a basket with 2 minutes, 3 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Lady Dogs turned up the heat in the third quarter with a 14-1 surge and forced Iola into 13 turnovers, with its first and only bucket coming with 2:16 remaining in the period.
Thorndale outscored Iola 31-11 in the second half.
“We did some good things offensively in the first quarter, just missed a ton of shots,” Dickerson said. “In the second quarter, we started hitting some shots and got some turnovers. Second half our zone press really gave them problems.”
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