Sonoma’s Lady Dragons stand up to league-leading Vintage High

It was Senior Night, the last home basketball game of the season, and the last chance for the 12th graders to show their skills before the home crowd audience.|

Going into Wednesday’s game against league-leading Vintage High, the Lady Dragons players and coaches knew they were in for “a tough challenge,” said Coach Jann Thorpe. Vintage is sitting comfortably atop the Vine Valley Athletic League, the only blemish on their 10-1 record coming with a loss to second-place Casa Grande.

But it was Senior Night, the last home basketball game of the season, and the last chance for the 12th graders to show their skills before the home crowd audience. Even though the score didn’t tell the full story, the Lady Dragons played with heart and grit – especially on defense – and kept the league leaders within reach until the 32-26 final.

“The girls were up for the challenge and really wanted to win it for their seniors,” said Thorpe. “We really did a nice job of making it really hard for our opponents to score. We definitely were frustrating Vintage’s top scorers. They were having to work extremely hard to get their baskets.”

Unfortunately, there are two sides to the game, and the Sonoma Valley team found it equally difficult to score.

“We had some shots we should have made and we didn’t capitalize on those easy shots,” lamented the coach, not for the first time this season.

Leaders were Kennedy Midgley with 9 points and a big 14 rebounds, followed by Annie Neles’ 7 points and 5 rebounds. Sophie Lucchetti also scored 7, followed by Jovana Salanda with 4 and Shauna Johnston with 2, and 3 rebounds.

“I am so proud of the way the girls worked so hard and gave it their all out on the court,” said Thorpe.

At this point the Lady Dragons are 3-7 in league play, still tied with Petaluma for fourth. Their final two games are on the road, against last-place American Canyon (2-9) Thursday night (results not available by press time), and next Monday’s game against Petaluma – both games that should be well within reach for the Lady Dragons to end the season with a win..

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