Lady Demons remain atop WAC with gritty win at Great Bend, boys drop 6th straight
GREAT BEND–Dodge City’s girls ended the game on a 7-0 run behind Ashlyn Lembright’s career-high 19 points at Great Bend Friday to win 43-32, while the boys lost their sixth consecutive game, 54-43, despite leading in the fourth quarter.
In the girls game, Lembright picked up the slack and then some after Becca Unruh struggled to consistently get open, managing just six points in the contest. Lembright was 7-for-14 from the floor and tied a career high with five made 3-pointers.
The Lady Demons were able to jump out to an early 15-7 lead, but then got blanked in the second quarter 9-0 and found themselves down one point at halftime. After a tightly contested third quarter, the Demons pulled away with a 7-0 run to end the game and remain in first place in the WAC.
Easha Potts notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and was the only player other than Lembright to reach double figures for Dodge. Alex Gere collected 10 rebounds.
With the win, Dodge City avenged its only conference loss and has now defeated every other team in the WAC at least once.
Mersadie Spray paced Great Bend with 13 points.
The Lady Demons improve to 9-9, 5-1 WAC with the win and return to action Tuesday when they host Hays. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.
In the boys game, Dodge City led for more time than they trailed, but an 11-0 Great Bend run to start the fourth quarter was enough to hand the Red Demons their fifth conference defeat.
Rebounds were a point of emphasis for Demon coach Shane Traughber after allowing 21 offensive rebounds to Great Bend in the Panthers’ 57-53 win at Dodge City in January. And the results showed to the tune of out-rebounding the Great Bend 45-31. They also racked up 19 offensive rebounds, but were only able to turn those into a measly two points.
The first three quarters were very competitive with the game tied at halftime and Dodge City holding a three-point lead heading into the final eight minutes. But the 11 straight Panther points that would follow finished with Great Bend outscoring Dodge 23-9 in the fourth quarter.
For the third straight game, Tochi Okoro was Dodge City’s leading scorer with 11 points and 16 rebounds. Victor Brito barely missed a double-double and finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Braylon Council scored a game-high 17 points on his senior night for Great Bend.
Friday’s loss marked Dodge City’s sixth consecutive defeat, their longest losing streak of the season.
The Red Demons fall to 5-13 with the loss and return to action Tuesday when they host Hays. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT.
