A shootout between Dixon and Sycamore essentially came down to one quarter Saturday night, and it was the Duchesses’ big run in the second period that sunk the Spartans in a 55-47 victory at Lancaster Gym.

“Both teams played really well, so it’s always fun to play that kind of game,” Dixon senior Reese Dambman said. “I love playing these close games. It was close early, then it got a little close at the end. I was a little bit nervous. But I knew we’d be OK as long as we knew what we needed to do and just honed in on our skills.”

Sycamore (7-5) was hot from the perimeter early on as four players combined to hit five 3-pointers in the first quarter to take a 15-13 lead. But the Spartans went ice cold in the second, and Dixon (9-1) took advantage.

Abby Hicks, Ahmyrie McGowan, Morgan Hargrave and Dambman all scored inside as the Duchesses scored the first 14 points of the period as part of a 16-2 edge for a 29-17 halftime lead.

Add in three of the first four baskets in the third quarter and Dixon’s extended run was 22-4 to build a 35-19 margin.

“They have really good lights-out shooters, so we had to get up on defense, put a hand in their face, do anything that was going to knock them off their rhythm and not give them an easy shot,” McGowan said. “And on offense, we had to drive in and find an open shot, and we were able to get to the basket.”

Sycamore missed all six of its 3s in the second quarter, and after hitting five of its nine shots from deep in the first quarter, hit only 5 of 25 for the rest of the game.

“We knew that they were going to be a very heavy 3-point shooting team, and they hit some great shots,” Dambman said. “But we wanted to stop their drives, and we put a lot of pressure on their two best players, so that helped.”

But the Spartans clawed back into it. Macy Calendo’s 3 cut the deficit to 37-27, then a 3 by Quinn Carrier made it 40-32 late in the third quarter. Back-to-back 3s by Calendo in the first two minutes of the fourth cut the Dixon lead to 46-38.

“In the first quarter we were moving the ball well and everyone was executing and hitting their shots, so coming into the second half, we knew that’s what we had to do: come out, move the ball, everyone be a threat,” Carrier said. “That’s what we didn’t do in the second quarter, and that’s what got us down a lot. We just had to execute, move the ball and play as a team.

“And we knew that defense was going to get us back in the game and we had to get stops, so I think everyone just played our [butts] off and worked hard.”

The teams traded baskets for a stretch; Sycamore would score, then Dixon would break the press and find open shots. Hargrave hit a 3, Presley Lappin scored a layup and McGowan went coast-to-coast to make it 53-42 with 5:15 to play.

“It flowed really well,”McGowan said of Dixon’s press break. “We’ve played against it before, so we felt comfortable with it and passed the ball around and hit shots.”

Then the defenses took over, with Sycamore forcing turnovers and Dixon forcing tough shots. Cortni Kruizenga drove for a layup, then Sadie Lang put back a miss for a three-point play, and it was 53-47.

But neither team hit another shot, and two free throws by McGowan with 25.7 seconds left sealed the win.

McGowan had a double-double of 19 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks and Dambman added 14 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals for Dixon. Hargrave had eight points, three rebounds and three assists, Lappin finished with seven points, five rebounds and two steals, Addy Lohse added five points and three rebounds and Kiley Gaither chipped in four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Carrier also recorded a double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Spartans. Lang had 10 points and eight rebounds and Calendo and Grace Amptmann each hit three 3s for nine points; Amptmann also had a game-high five assists. Kruizenga chipped in five points and three assists.

“I was really proud of our team tonight, I thought we outplayed them for three quarters – but that second quarter was just such a stinker that it’s hard to come back from that,” Sycamore coach Adam Wickness said. “But I thought we fought and we battled hard. We knew coming into this game that when you’re playing a good team like Dixon, you’ve got to put together four quarters, and you can’t have that one dud in there. But we could’ve easily rolled over and we didn’t. I thought we showed a lot of fight.”