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BY TRAVIS DAVID
The Dugger Union girls basketball team ran into a buzzsaw in their season-opener against state ranked North Central.
After a week and a half of practice time, it was the Bulldogs’ turn to dish out punishment to their opponent.
Dugger Union improved to 1-1 on the season with a 63-24 lopsided victory Thursday evening against visiting Lighthouse Christian.
“Our schedule is pretty much downhill after our first game,” third-year coach Terry McKee said. “Besides maybe in the (state) tournament, we will not see another team on our schedule like North Central.”
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 13-4 lead after the first eight minutes of play, on Thursday, and never looked back.
Leading the way for the hosts was Jordyn Smith. The senior scored nine of her game-high 24 points in the opening frame. The point total tied a career high which set her sophomore season against Medora.
Smith added six more in the second as the Bulldogs carried a 31-12 advantage into the locker room. The senior added seven more in the third as the Bulldogs’ offense erupted for 23 points.
But Smith did more than just score. The shifty guard finished with a triple-double by adding 11 rebounds and coming up with 10 steals. Smith finished two assists shy of recording a quadruple-double.
“She played tremendous in all aspects of the game,” McKee said of his star player. “She just does not stop hustling. She did a great job of getting everyone involved and wanting everyone to score tonight.
“She is just a different player this year as far as how she sees the game not only for herself but where her teammates should be as well.”
Smith was not the only Bulldog player to have a big night. Sage Stahl recorded a double-double with a career-high 20 points while pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds. The junior post player also finished with five steals and swatted away one shot.
Stahl’s previous career-high point total was 17 in the Bulldogs’ win over Medora last season.
Arianna Frazee also stuffed the statsheet during Thursday’s win. The senior netted eight points to go along with six rebounds, five assists and five steals.
McKee mentioned he was pleased with the effort from his team.
“I thought we played good for the most part tonight,” the Bulldogs’ coach said. “We still missed a few too many easy shots at the start of the game. But we started to get into a better flow after starting our press. After we got a solid lead we backed off the press.”
Jalee Brumbarger (3) Cori Pearison (2) Kera Schaefer (2) and Ember Dubois (2) rounded out the scoring for the Bulldogs with a combined 9 points. Pearison pulled down four boards in the win.
Freshman Izzy Cole missed the game due to an undisclosed injury.
“She is long and athletic so we missed her out there,” McKee said of his freshman. “But I think we are going to be way better by the end of the season once we get everyone healthy and get all our freshmen more confidence.”
Dugger Union (1-1) plays host to Little Okaw Valley Conference foe Palestine-Hutsonsville (Ill.) on Monday.
Thank you to Union Station Cafe for the sponsorship of this story
