Lady Dragons tame Tigers

Sonoma breaks game open in second half|

After a close first half Monday, the Lady Dragon cagers sprinted away from the Analy Tigers in the second and coasted home with a 49-31 victory.

The Lady Dragons held a slim two-point margin at the half, but outscored the Tigers 27-11 in the second half.

“From the very start, the girls had such a great energy and focus to them,” said Lady Dragon Coach Jann Thorpe. “We’ve been preparing for Analy for the past week – and the girls executed the game plan to a T.”

Sonoma took command right from the start as junior Amy Stanfield hit a trey and senior Grace Cutting hit a deuce in the first minute-and-a-half giving the Dragons an early 5-0 lead.

The Tigers cut the margin to 7-6, but two free throws and a basket by senior Katie Stovall and a bucket by senior Alyssa Schimm made it a 13-6 game. Analy scored six unanswered points in the last two minutes of the quarter to make it a one-point game.

At the buzzer, Schimm lofted a shot from the other side mid-court that touched nothing but net – but the ref waived it off.

“This was by far the best game we have played all season. Offensively, the girls were balanced. We moved the ball around really well working inside and out,” Thorpe said. “We made really good decisions when to attack the basket and when to take the shot. Our goal was to come our aggressive and to attack the basket which resulted in getting to the free throw line 21 times.”

The second quarter was nip-and-tuck with Sonoma building a lead to five points, but the Tigers kept it close hitting a pair of treys and pulling to within a point at 21-20. Sophomore Annie Neles hit a free throw in the closing seconds to give the Lady Dragon a slim two-point lead at the half.

“I know many people have Analy as the favorite to win the league this year, but the girls and I wanted to make sure that this game was going to be a game that sent a message to not count Sonoma out,” Thorpe said.

Sonoma came out strong to start the second half, and outscored the Tigers 14-7 to take an eight-point margin into the fourth quarter.

“Defensively, it was such a team effort. We really locked down on our matchups and rotated so beautifully,” Thorpe said.

Thorpe singled out Stanfield, Cutting and senior Alanna Johnston for their defensive efforts.

“Alanna was a force inside on their big girl who has been playing really well,” the coach said. “Alanna was guarding her throughout most of the game with help from Grace (Cutting). Both did a great job on being active on her.”

“And Amy (Stanfield) was one of our defensive keys as she was on Analy’s top scorer and held her to 9 points – all which were in the first half,” she added.

The Dragons outscored the Tigers 14-3 in the fourth quarter putting an exclamation point on their win.

“Overall, this was a great win for us. The girls are playing with confidence and we finally put all the pieces together,” Thorpe said. “The key to not let down and to keep working hard on getting better.”

Stovall led the Dragon attack with a season-high 13 points. “Katie was huge for us. She found different ways to score for us from inside the key, three-point line and the free throw line,” Thorpe said. “I’m so happy for her. It was her night.”

Cutting had 11 points and five rebounds, senior Kayla Field had nine points and three rebounds, Johnston had six points and six rebounds, Schimm had five points, Neles and Stanfield had two points each and junior Sydney VonGober had one point.

The win gives the Lady Dragons a 10-5 overall record and a 2-0 mark in Sonoma County League play. Sonoma had a game scheduled with El Molino Wednesday night, but because El Mo didn’t have school, the students couldn’t participate in any school activities, so the game will be rescheduled.

The Lady Dragons travel to Petaluma for a game tonight, Friday. Sonoma has a bye on Tuesday and will be back in action on Jan. 20, when they host Piner in another SCL tilt.

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