By Bruce Sayler
The mileage was pretty good, but the tank wasn’t very deep Butte Central figures had to acknowledge Saturday night after undefeated Dillon left the Maroon Activities Center with a 69=62 Southwestern A Conference basketball win over the home team.
A deep Dillon team kept the rpms on high, too, as the Beavers were able to rest quick players with more quick players from their bench. Butte Central fatigued and Dillon won.
The Maroons’ Brooke Badovinac the Beavers’ Lauryn Petersen played starring roles for their teams. Petersen scored 22 points, including five 3-point baskets, and Badovinac chalked 28 points, including double-number eruptions in the second and fourth quarters.
The start of the second half, and Dillon’s prowess on the boards created the result. The Maroons led 32-29 at halftime, then failed to score until the 1-minute, 37-second mark of the third quarter. In the meantime, the Beavers ran off 19 straight points and grabbed a 48-32 command. The 16-point spread was the largest of the game.
Butte Central’s 26-point final period kept the seats full with a nice crowd on hand, but the Dillon command was too large for the Maroons to wreck.
“We missed a bunch of layups in the third quarter,” Butte Central head coach Meg Murphy lamented. “We were a little short, we’re rotating only seven kids and we like to try to press.
“We didn’t box out, either, and that was the difference. If we box out and limit them to one shot each time, we’re right there. We played with them.”
“Dillon is a good team,” Murphy continued. “They rotate 10 kids who can play.”
The Beavers led after first break when Petersen launched from near midcourt for a long 3-pointer at the buzzer that awed the crowd. It put the difference at 16-11 through a quarter. The Maroons ran by the lead with Badovinac and Ella Moodry both enjoying a strong second frame.
A 6-0 spree by Badovinac caught Dillon at 26-all, then Moodry canned a pullup jumper and scored on a pass from Brenna Foley. Foley hit from inside as Moodry returned the favor to cap a 12-0 Maroons run to a 32-26 advantage. Petersen’s air mail at the horn made for the 32-29 halftime score. While they
Petersen scored eight points in the Beavers’ third quarter while they were going 19-0 on Butte Central. Moodry found Mollie Drew inside the key for a layup and Butte Central’s first two points of the second half. Payton Hartwick took a pass from Moodry just after 6-foot freshman Kylie Konen tallied for Dillon and the third quarter ended with the Beavers holding a 50-36 lead.
It looked safe.
However, the Maroons outscored their opponents 12-7 in the early moments of last quarter and had the difference less than 10 points, 57-48, with a 10-for-10 performance from the free throw line – Badovinac going 6-for-6 and both Kathryn Lalicker and Moodry 2-for-2.
The margin shrank to five points, 63-58, when Moodry scored on a pass from Sofee thatcher with 1:49 on the clock.
Petersen knocked down a foul shot and Badovinac responded with a steal-and-layup for a 64-60 difference and 40 seconds remaining.
Ainsley Shipman converted a charity toss for the Beavers and the Maroons had a fast-break opportunity off the rebound on the missed second freebie. Thatcher’s pass, however, bounced off a teammate’s hands under the basket and out of bounds. Badovinac fouled Jordyn Walker with 17 seconds left and Walker netted both free throws.
The Maroons failed to execute their next opportunity and had to foul Halle Fitzgerald, who cagted two more foul shots and the Beavers’ lead had grown to 69-60 with only 11 seconds to go.
Badovinac drove to the basket as the rest of the time evaporated.
“I was really proud of them in the fourth quarter,” Murphy said about her players’ bounce-back from the third-quarter struggles. “But, everybody missed a ton of bunnies in the third quarter. I was, really, though, proud of the way they all played.”
Moodry finished with 14 points to back Badovinac in scoring. Drew scored six points off the bench, Thatcher and Lalicker hooped five apiece, and Foley and Hartwick each notched two. Thatcher dished seven assists and Moodry dealt five. The two also combined for 14 turnovers. The Maroons are 2-2 for the season, 1-1 in conference play and are to play a league counter at Corvallis on Tuesday before going up against in-town rival Butte High Thursday athe Civic Center.
Dillon scoring leaders behind Petersen were Evey Hansen with 12 points, Walker with eight and Abby Brevig with seven. Also, Fitzgerald had four points, Bri Williams and Konen registered two apiece, and Sydney Petersen one. Hailey Powell and Leila Stennerson also played. Shipman pulled down a dozen rebounds.
DILLON (4-0, 2-0) — Ainsley Shipman 3-13 2-5 8, Lauryn Petersen 8-14 1-2 22, Evey Hansen 4-7 4-4 12, Jordyn Walker 4-10 2-2 11, Halle Fitzgerald 1-2 2-2 4, Sydney Petersen 0-1 1=2 1, Abby Brevig 3-6 1-1 7, Bri Williams 1-1 0-0 2, Hailey Powell 0-1 0-0 0, Leila Stennerso 0-3 0-0 0, Kylie Konen 1-1 0-0 2, Zoey Morast 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-59 13-18 69.
BUTTE CENTRAL (2-2, 1-1) — Brenna Foley 1-2 0-0 2, Payton Hartwick 1-4 0-0 2, Sofee Thatcher 1-6 3-5 5, Brooke Badovinac 9-13 8-8 28, Ella Moodry 6-12 2-4 14, Mollie Drew 2-4 2-2 6, Kathryn Lalicker 1-1 2-2 5. Totals 21-42 17-21 62.
Dillon 16 13 21 19 — 69
Butte Central 11 21 4 26 — 62
3-point goals – Dillon 6-14 (Shipman 0-2, L. Petersen 5-7, Walker 1-3, Fitzgerald 0-1, Brevig 0-1), Butte Central 3-5 (Hartwick 0-1, Thatcher 0-1, Badovinac 2-3). Fouled out – none. Total fouls – Dillon 23, Butte Central 18. Technicals – none. Rebounds – Dillon 41 (Shipman 12, Hansen 7), Butte Central 28 (Moodry 8, Thatcher 6). Blocks – none. Assists – Dillon 12 (Walker 4, Shipman 4), Butte Central 13 (Thatcher 7, Moodry 5). Steals – Dillon 14 (S. Petersen 3, L. Petersen 3, Shipman 3), Butte Central 8 (Badovinac 3, Moodry 3). Turnovers – Dillon 24, Butte Central 20.
