Hallie Williamson, Dixon surge past rival Rock Falls on Senior Night

DIXON – It was only fitting that Hallie Williamson played one her best quarters of the season on Senior Night at Lancaster Gym.

The Dixon senior forward went a perfect 7 for 7 from the field in the third quarter to help the Duchesses pull away from Big Northern Conference rival Rock Falls in a 57-27 win Friday night. It was Dixon’s ninth win in its last 10 games, and also its ninth win in the last 11 meetings with the Rockets.

[ Photos from Rock Falls at Dixon girls basketball ]

“Honestly, we had some Sour Patch Kids in the team room at halftime, so that might’ve done it,” Williamson joked after scoring 17 of Dixon’s 24 points in the third period. “Seriously, when we went to the locker room, we just talked about how we were getting good looks, we just had to finish. Coming out after halftime, I just had that mentality that every shot I took, I wanted to finish.”

The Duchesses (23-4, 7-0 BNC) scored the first 18 points of the game, with Morgan Hargrave scoring seven points and Williamson adding five in the initial surge. Dixon shot 8 for 11 in the opening quarter and held the Rockets scoreless for the first 7:59.

“We were just playing for our seniors. We wanted to come out fast and play hard,” Hargrave said. “At the beginning, we wanted to come out strong and pressure them, which we did. We made some great passes; half of my baskets were off of just great passes from my teammates, so thanks to them. I think we did an amazing job coming out and playing for our seniors.”

Rock Falls (3-23, 0-7) got its first points on Elizabeth Lombardo’s pull-up jumper with 1.2 seconds left in the first quarter, and that seemed to open things up. She added a 3-pointer to start the second quarter, and the Rockets outscored Dixon 12-6 the rest of the half.

Miley Bickett then nailed a 3 to start the third quarter, and after she hit a pair of free throws, Rock Falls had cut the deficit to 28-18 just 2:17 into the second half.

“It definitely was good to see that first one go in, and I think it kind of calmed everyone down and helped us get going,” Lombardo said of her first basket. “Honestly, we just played more together as a team. We motivated each other at halftime and we had a good pep talk, figured out our strategies and brought in some aggression. We just fought hard and stayed together.”

But that’s when Williamson took over. She scored inside, then nailed 3s on three straight possessions in a personal 11-0 run. Then the defense forced a couple of turnovers and the Duchesses got their transition game going as they scored the final 20 points of the third quarter to build a 48-18 lead.

“We just talked about focusing during halftime, and making sure we took everything really serious. Obviously we had a lot of emotions going on at the beginning, but we just kind of locked in and we were good to go, started to play like we normally do,” senior Makenzie Toms said. “I think at one point they didn’t have a very tall girl on Hallie, so we were just taking advantage of that, just making sure we could enter it to her [in the post] with good passes and set her up for more success, and I think it gave us a spark.”

Reese Dambman nailed a pair of 3s in the fourth quarter, then Bailey Tegeler – the only Dixon senior who hadn’t scored yet – banked in a step-back 3 as the Duchesses built the lead to 57-23 with 2:53 to play.

Williamson finished with 22 points – including four 3s – and five rebounds, and Hargrave stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals. Dambman had eight points and three assists, Ahmyrie McGowan added six points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and a blocked shot, and Toms chipped in five points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Lombardo led Rock Falls with 14 points, six rebounds and two assists, and Bickett had seven points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Julia Renner chipped in four points and six rebounds.

“Basketball is just a game of runs, and we had a big one in each half,” Hargrave said. “We got in a lull after the fast start, but coming out of halftime we said we were just going to step everything up, defense and offense. Keeping the pressure on them was a big thing tonight.”