Dixon pressure sinks Oregon early in Big Northern triumph

OREGON – Lots of energy and aggressiveness on both ends of the court set the tone for Dixon on Thursday night at the Blackhawk Center.

The Duchesses forced 17 first-half turnovers and bolted to a 22-point halftime lead en route to a 54-28 road win over Big Northern Conference foe Oregon.

“We knew what we had to do from the start: just get the pressure up,” Dixon forward Ahmyrie McGowan said. “We knew if we could get up early, we could drop back into our [half-court] defense. It played a big role tonight; a lot of steals helped us get more energy on the bench and on the court.”

[ Photos from Dixon at Oregon girls basketball ]

Dixon (17-3, 4-0 BNC) scored 31 of the game’s first 40 points, doing it mostly with fast-break layups off steals and crisp movement in the half-court offense. Passes were sharp, cuts were precise, and Morgan Hargrave getting hot from the right corner didn’t hurt, either.

The junior guard shot 5-for-6 from 3-point range and was 5-for-5 from the right corner – including 4-for-4 on the east end of the court.

“It’s always been my lucky spot, I know that, and there’s something about this floor, too,” Hargrave said. “I try not to think about that stuff, but if I’m in the corner and I’m open, I’m going to shoot. I don’t know, I just love playing here, it’s always fun.

“We’ve definitely been working on moving the ball faster, making sure we’re finding the open shot and hitting the best shot that we can. I think we did a great job of it tonight.”

Four different Duchesses scored at least eight points, and seven Dixon players nabbed steals.

McGowan led the way with a double-double of 13 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and six steals, while Hargrave had 17 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Hallie Williamson finished with 12 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks, and Reese Dambman added eight points, eight assists and three steals.

All 10 Duchesses had a stat of some kind. Presley Lappin had four points, four rebounds and two steals; Makenzie Toms had three rebounds and four steals; and Kiley Gaither chipped in four rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block. Dixon assisted on 17 of its 21 baskets – including 13 of 15 in the first half – and committed just nine turnovers.

“It’s a lot easier when we run our offense like that,” McGowan said. “Hitting shots really gets all of us up, and we know that we can depend on our teammates; they’re always there for us. Some people don’t play as much, so them getting in and scoring points and making plays and helping the team is big for us.”

McGowan’s athleticism at the top of Dixon’s full-court press wreaked havoc early on for Oregon (9-10, 0-4 BNC). The Hawks committed 11 first-quarter turnovers that Dixon turned into 11 points, and Sarah Eckardt’s three-point play provided their only points in the opening eight minutes as the Duchesses built a 22-3 lead. They stretched it to 40-18 by halftime.

“Our press was putting pressure on them all game. We hadn’t done it as much as we did it tonight, and I think we did a great job adjusting to when the coaches wanted us to put pressure on and when not to,” Hargrave said. “We knew we wanted to get a big lead in the beginning, and I think we did a great job the whole game of keeping that pressure on them and keeping our lead.”

Oregon found some open looks in its half-court offense in the second. Aniyah Sarver scored all six of her points, and Alease McLain netted all five of her points in the quarter as the Hawks hit seven of their 13 baskets in the period.

Sarver also had three rebounds and two assists, and McLain added four boards. Eckardt added five points and a team-high seven rebounds, Madelyn Wendt (four points) and Noelle Girton (two points) each grabbed five boards, and Shaylee Davis had two points and four rebounds for Oregon.

“When you let an outstanding team like Dixon get a lead on you, it can be tough to come back from that. But I’m super proud of the way the girls played throughout the entire game. They never gave up once,” Oregon coach Angela Reynolds said.

“We talk a lot about stop-score-stop; we’ve got to close that gap somehow, and unfortunately, we couldn’t get that job done tonight, but we kept battling and playing as hard as we possibly could.”