Lady Bulldogs end run

PABLO - The Mission girls' basketball team went two-and-out at its Western B divisional tournament last weekend.

In their first game, the Lady Bulldogs faced Florence, a team ranked fifth in the state.

Mission played to a 10-point tie after the first, but the Falcons pulled away to a six-point lead at the half.

"We played well," head coach Les Rice said. "We didn't get any breaks in the first game as far as free throws go."

Florence was granted 34 free throws and Mission only attempted seven. By the time Florence had shot 24, Mission had taken only one.

Junior Adessa Durglo received two quick fouls in the beginning of the game before sitting the rest of the first quarter, only playing a total of three minutes. Junior Kyla Mitchell was in the same boat before eventually fouling out of the game.

"It hurt us offensively," Rice said.

The Bulldogs dropped in 10 points during the third but managed only six in the last quarter of the 48-33 loss.

Senior Katie McDonald led with 13 points, six from 3-pointers. Senior Bella Dally added seven and Mitchell had six.

In the next game, a loser-out contest, Mission had a bad two minute stretch in the end of the second quarter against Valley Christian.

"If that wouldn't have happened we could've entered the locker room with a lead," Rice said.

Instead, the Bulldogs were down by three at the half after scoring eight points in both the first and second quarters.

Rice said Mission started to force things during the second half.

"When you start to see the end of the season, you press harder, try to do stuff you don't normally do," he said. "The basket just gets smaller. If we had the lead, that could have been [Valley Christian]."

Mission scored 10 points in the second half of the 41-26 season-ending loss.

Mitchell led with 10 and McDonald added five.

Rice said his team was in every game they lost, with the exception of four that were "ol' fashion butt-whoopings."

The Bulldogs will lose four seniors that each contributed something different to the team.

"They were all good role models, good students," Rice said. "Katie was our vocal leader, Rachel was our mother hen and Bella brought hustle."

With a core group of returnees, Rice said he will try to get them to work on shooting during the off-season.

"If we can figure out how to make more baskets, we'll be in good shape," he said.