The White County Warriorettes four game winning streak was snapped Friday at the hands of a 48-43 loss against the York Dragonettes in the Sonic Shootout in Sparta.
The Warriorettes led by as many as nine points in the first half, but the AA Dragonettes would not be denied as they knocked off AAA Sparta.
“I didn’t think we played really well,” said WCHS head coach Michael Dodgen. “We didn’t play with any energy. We didn’t play with any fire. I’ll take the blame for that. You’ve got to give York a lot of credit. They were ready to play. They played very hard. They made some big shots. You’ve got to tip your hat to York, and we didn’t perform the way that we should’ve performed.”
The Warriorettes jumped out to a 14-5 lead at the end of the first quarter after ending the frame with an 11-0 run.
The Dragonettes responded with six straight points to cut the deficit to 14-11. Celeste Reed and Morgan Quick made baskets to give Sparta a nine-point lead, but York ended the half with six more consecutive points to make it 22-19 at halftime.
Dragonettes’ star Haylee Johnson opened the third quarter with four points as her team took a 26-28 lead. The teams then traded baskets through the rest of the frame as York took a 32-33 lead into the fourth.
Alaina Stiles made a basket with two minutes remaining in the game to give WCHS a 43-41 lead, but Ellie Leffew completed a three-point play 17 seconds later to regain the lead for York. The Warriorettes would be unable to score in the final moments, and the Dragonettes left Sparta with a signature victory.
“We didn’t score for 4.5 minutes in the second quarter, and then we didn’t score for four minutes in the third quarter,” said Dodgen. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to come back and play tomorrow. You want to be better than you were today.”
“You can’t point fingers. You can’t blame anybody. It starts with me and then it carries down to the players, you look yourself in the mirror and we’ve got to come back and go again tomorrow.”
Leffew led the Dragonettes with 15 points. Johnson added 14.
The Warriorettes will look to respond Saturday when they take on Kingston. Tipoff is set for 5:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the UCR Facebook page.
“I hope we’ve got some competitive juices inside of us,” said Dodgen. “(I hope) we’re going to come out and compete, play hard and do the things we need to do. Sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t.”
Photos by Noah McKay:
