Girls basketball: Dixon shakes off slow start, uses massive second-quarter surge to beat Oregon

DIXON – The Duchesses and Hawks looked like evenly-matched teams for a quarter of Big Northern Conference play on Thursday night at Lancaster Gym, but then Dixon seized control early in the second quarter and rolled to a 54-10 win.

The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, as both teams struggled to knock down their shots. Hadley Lutz scored five of the first seven points to help Oregon keep pace early, but forward Ella Govig helped turn the tide for Dixon, especially in the opening quarter, where she recorded four points and four blocks. Her back-to-the-basket bucket with about 25 seconds on the clock capped the first-quarter scoring and gave Dixon the lead for good at 8-7.

“Yeah, it definitely was a slow start, but our energy brought us back in,” Dixon guard Sam Tourtillott said. “The bench helped us, the student section helped us, and we were all hyped after the first quarter.”

In the second quarter, the Duchesses erupted with a 24-0 run. Tourtillott hit a 3 off a pass from the post to extend the lead to 12-7, then Abby Knipple drove the lane for a layup on a bounce pass from Jessie Pitman to make it a 14-7 advantage.

Tourtillott knocked down two free throws to make it an 18-7 game with about 4:40 to go, and Rylee Pfoutz closed out the second quarter with back-to-back 3s. Her first came from the right wing off a post pass from Elle Jarrett, and the second came from the top of the key off a Tourtillott assist. Dixon went into the half with a commanding 32-7 lead.

“Our defense in that part of the game was so good,” Govig said. “We just kept getting stops, and then we were pushing in transition, and it was working really well for us.”

“We just started working as a team and running the other team fast,” Tourtillott said. “That’s how we play best, is when we move fast and move the ball well as a team.”

In the second half, the Duchesses surrendered only three points. Mariah Drake took the lid off the basket for Oregon with a 3 with 5:20 to play in the third, cutting the deficit to 36-10, but that was all the Hawks could muster. Dixon responded with 18 straight points to close out the game.

“My team has a difficult time believing in themselves the way that I do, and I think you could see that. I mean, first quarter we played fantastic, and even into the second quarter, I thought we were playing solid minutes,” Oregon coach Olyvia Rand said. “And then we have some doubt that gets into our heads. So we’re really working on trying to build that confidence, and I think once that confidence is there, then this would be a different game.”

In the fourth quarter, the Duchesses went deeper into their bench and still pitched a shutout. Twelve players recorded a stat for Dixon, and 10 scored at least one basket in the contest.

Tourtillott and Govig were thrilled to get the entire team involved.

“It’s the best feeling,” Tourtillott said. “When every person on the team has a stat, or every person scores and the ball is moving well, it’s the best feeling.”

“Oh my god. It’s so fun,” Govig said. “We all get so hyped for each other, we all work so hard together, so it’s great to see everyone succeeding and everyone playing their game.”

Tourtillott finished with a game-high 10 points, while Govig, Pfoutz and Jarrett added eight points each for the Duchesses. Govig also had four blocks, and Harvest Day nabbed three steals.