There are a few different ways to look at the Dexter girls’ basketball season opener on Tuesday night – and, no, they aren’t all bad. The Dreadnaughts didn’t exactly pick an easy game to open the season, driving out to Farmington Hills to face an always strong Mercy team.
The Dreadnaughts fell behind by eight points at halftime and then just couldn’t keep up with the Marlins, falling 46-25 just two days after the MHSAA cleared contact for winter sports.
Let’s start with the positives for the Dreadnaughts. First, they had flashes of their trademark defensive prowess. The Marlins didn’t convert a field goal until there was just 1:40 left to play in the first quarter. The Dreads also came out strong to start the third quarter on the defensive end, forcing several turnovers – but the offense just couldn’t shoot its way back into the game.
Dexter also never quit, playing hard and with a purpose until the very end. The purpose was to get some real basketball experience before opening the SEC part of the schedule on Thursday at home against visiting Pinckney.
SEE WLD PHOTO GALLERY – 100 PHOTOS
The Dreadnaughts struggled all night on the offensive end, failing to ever find a rhythm and struggling to shoot the basketball. Well, let’s rephrase that. They didn’t struggle to shoot the ball, they struggled to make the shots. They had plenty of open looks but a team with a roster full of good shooters all picked the same game to be off the mark – chalk it up to lack of real practice.
Back to the good news. They only have one day to revisit this game before moving on to the Pirates. While they won’t burn the game film, the Dreadnaughts won’t be ordering popcorn and making a night of it. Best to work on a few things and then move on with a focus on what they did right and where they need to improve.
Kylee Niswonger led Dexter, scoring 10 of her team’s 25 points. She converted one field goal and knocked down 8 of 10 free-throw attempts. Alayna Babut had five points and Maddi Valentine, Brianna Rodriguez, Chloe Perry, Kayla Rivers and Shannon Schoch all scored two points for the Dreads.
SEE WLD PHOTO GALLERY – 100 PHOTOS
Babut hit a triple to lead Dexter to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter. Mercy went on a 7-0 run to close out the quarter to take a 7-5 lead.
The Marlins pushed the lead to 13-5 before Valentine turned a rebound into two points. Niswonger knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 13-11 before Mercy went on a 7-1 lead to close out the first half for a 20-12 halftime lead.
After a rough start to the third quarter, Mercy finally got the offense rolling and built a 28-14 lead with 4:10 left in the quarter. Less than 2 minutes later, it was 36-14 and the Dreadnaughts couldn’t get the offense going to mount a comeback.
SEE WLD PHOTO GALLERY – 100 PHOTOS
