Girls basketball: Swarming Dixon defense stymies Princeton

aDIXON – Coming off a three-game losing streak at its own KSB Holiday Tournament last week, Dixon needed a get-right win to start the new year.

With a 53-22 victory over Princeton on Thursday at Lancaster Gym, the Duchesses got just what the doctor ordered.

“Last week at the tournament, we definitely had a rough week. So this week at practice, we ironed out the little kinks we had,” Dixon senior guard Katie Drew said. “We knew what we had to fix, and we worked hard at it for the past few days, and we came out here and executed well.”

[ Photos: Dixon vs Princeton girls basketball ]

The Tigresses (12-5) kept pace with the Duchesses (13-5) for about five minutes in the first quarter. But once the wheels came off, there was no coming back.

Princeton took a 6-5 lead on a mid-range jumper by sophomore Keighley Davis, but Dixon, ever aggressive on defense, forced eight turnovers and closed the first quarter on a 13-0 run.

“Dixon’s a good ballclub, and they played a great game. I thought we came out and played a really good first few minutes of the first quarter,” Princeton coach Tiffany Gonigam said. “Dixon just turned the pressure up on us a little bit in the full court, and we just didn’t handle the ball well. We were sometimes able to break the press, and then it seems like we turned it over early in our offense.

“I think their defense was just able to take us out of rhythm and stop us from handling the ball and doing what we wanted to.”

Drew restored the Duchesses’ lead, 7-6, with a driving layup with 4:34 remaining. Sophomore Addy Lohse followed with three free throws around a right-wing 3 by sophomore Morgan Hargrave and a mid-range jumper by senior Jessie Pitman. Pitman then hit the first of two free throws, and Drew sank two more free throws for an 18-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“What our defense was doing well is that we were in the help side,” Dixon junior forward Hallie Williamson said. “We were helping off of everybody, and I think that’s what really made it good.”

The Duchesses kept their foot on the gas pedal in the second quarter, outscoring the Tigresses 13-5 to stretch the lead to 20 points at halftime.

Dixon sophomore guard Reese Dambman opened the period with a left-corner 3 off a Drew inbounds pass, and Williamson sank a pair of free throws for a 23-6 lead with 5:23 on the clock.

Williamson then made three layups over the next three minutes – the second of which came on a pretty bounce pass across the lane from junior Makenzie Toms – as the lead increased to 31-8.

“We were moving the ball really well, and I think almost everybody scored in the first half, and it was off of assists from everybody,” said Drew about the Duchesses, who assisted on all nine first-half field goals, excluding one putback. “Everybody was being very unselfish with the ball, and we were getting each other very wide-open looks, so it worked very well for us.”

Princeton scored the last three points of the half in the final 1:11 on a Davis free throw and a Camryn Driscoll layup to trim the deficit to 31-11, but Dixon continued to build its lead in the third quarter.

Williamson scored five points in the third as the Duchesses widened the margin to 40-14.

Dixon closed the game with a 13-8 run in the fourth quarter.

“Our coaches do a great job with the scouting report, so we knew what they wanted heading into the game, and then we were able to take that away from them and handle their pressure,” Drew said. “They have a really strong defense, so we were able to do those two things, and it helped us come out on top.”

Williamson totaled 13 points, four rebounds and two steals; Lohse and Pitman scored 10 points each; and Dambman chipped in six points on two 3-pointers. Pitman also had four rebounds and two steals.

Drew stuffed the stat sheet with four points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals; Hargrave scored five points and dished three assists; and Toms added two points, five rebounds and four steals off the bench for Dixon.

The Duchesses racked up 17 steals.

“[This win was] very much needed,” Williamson said. “It definitely brought us back to where we need to be. And last week, we know we went 0-3, but we’re just building off of it.”

Davis and Driscoll led the Tigresses with nine points each, while senior Miyah Fox added four points. Driscoll grabbed 10 rebounds and two steals, and Davis, Fox and junior Olivia Mattingly pulled down three rebounds each for Princeton.