Sterling stifles Dixon to take third place

DIXON – As expected, Saturday’s third-place game at the Dixon Holiday Classic between rivals Sterling and Dixon was dominated by hard-nosed defense and all-out hustle.

But the difference was the Golden Warriors’ ability to get out and score in transition off the Duchesses’ missed shots, and it led to a 44-18 win at Lancaster Gym.

“It’s really just a team thing. If you work hard with your team, it all just flows,” Sterling sophomore Nia Harris said. “We played good defense and had a lot of rebounds, especially coming off our game from [Friday] night; we kind of just snapped back [from a 47-37 loss to Stillman Valley in the semifinals]. We had to work as a team to get this big win against one of our rivals.”

[ Photos from Sterling at Dixon girls basketball ]

Sterling (13-2) used a 13-3 run around halftime to build a big lead, then put the game away with a 12-0 run to start the fourth quarter. Sophomore point guard Jossy James was in the center of it all, as she led the Warriors with 15 points, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot, and also pulled down eight rebounds.

“Coming into it, we knew this was going to be a big game, as it always is with them,” she said. “It’s always that type of tough matchup, and so once we got that little run, it was our spark.

“We knew what we had to get done, and we brought our ‘A’ game.”

Harris ignited that first spark with a drive down the lane for a layup with 1:47 left in the second quarter, then James nailed a 3-pointer before assisting on a Madison Austin post bucket. Jossy and Jae James assisted on each others’ 3-pointers early in the third period after Dixon’s Hallie Williamson hit a 3 to open the second-half scoring.

Harris (11 rebounds), Austin (three rebounds) and Jae James (four rebounds, two assists) scored eight points each for Sterling, which outrebounded the Duchesses 41-27.

Four of the baskets the Warriors scored in their two runs came in transition off steals or Dixon misses.

“As long as we’re running our lanes how we’re supposed to be, pushing the ball up after getting the rebounds and hitting our open person, the points come easy,” Harris said.

“Our whole team did it on defense,” Jossy James added. “We caused some turnovers, forced them into contested shots, and that turned into our offense.”

For the second straight game, Dixon (14-2) struggled to hit shots and find its rhythm on offense. The Duchesses shot 3-for-41 for the game, and had two quarters – the second and fourth – when all their points came from the free-throw line, where they shot 11-for-14 for the game.

Dixon trailed 8-3 after one quarter, 22-9 at halftime, and 32-16 at the end of the third.

“I felt like tonight, we got to some places where we wanted to be offensively, we just didn’t convert,” Dixon coach Luke Ravlin said. “We had shots that rimmed out, and those nights are tough. You don’t ever want to see that for the kids, because you know that’s frustrating for them, but the reality is we played really hard and I was happy with the effort.

“They got a lot of loose balls, but sometimes the ball bounces like that. I didn’t feel like it was because they worked any harder than we did, I just felt like that’s the way the game went.”

Harris scored in the final second of the third quarter to spark the 12-0 run, then Austin opened the fourth quarter with another post basket. Jossy James nailed a 3 off an offensive rebound before assisting Delali Amankwa for a 3 on the Warriors’ next possession, then James finished that surge with a coast-to-coast layup off her own steal for a 42-16 lead with 2:52 to play.

Amankwa added four rebounds and an assist to her 3-pointer, and Natalie Eddinger chipped in a bucket and a pair of rebounds for the Warriors.

Williamson had 10 points and two rebounds for Dixon, Reese Dambman added three points, two rebounds and an assist, and Ahmyrie McGowan chipped in two points, four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. Morgan Hargrave had two points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal, Makenzie Toms grabbed four rebounds, and Addy Lohse added a free throw, five rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Last year, the Duchesses also struggled at their own holiday tournament before using it as a springboard to a run to the Class 3A supersectionals. Ravlin hopes the last two games are something this year’s team can grow from as well.

“No doubt we could do that same thing. I think it can be a launching pad for us again if we view it the right way every day,” he said. “I think our kids look at it as a challenge and know what they need to do.”

• In the championship game, Byron jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but Stillman Valley rallied to lead most of the game in a 45-40 victory. The Cardinals (15-0) led 23-18 at halftime and 29-26 through three quarters, and the Tigers (13-1) could never completely catch up; they cut the lead to 33-32 midway through the fourth quarter before Stillman regained control down the stretch.

Taylor Davidson led the Cardinals with 13 points, Dailene Wade scored all 12 of her points in the second half, and Lillian Green added 11 points. Malia Morton led Byron with 12 points, Macy Groharing had 11, and Aubrie Fuller added nine.