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Saturday, May 25, 2013
Covering Dallas, Monmouth, Independence, Falls City and surrounding areas since 1868
Dallas Jessica Mitchell, right, drives by a Silverton’s Tess Oster in Friday’s game.
January 23, 2013
DALLAS -- On paper, it was a winnable game.
The Dallas High girls basketball team entered Friday's Mid-Willamette Conference matchup with Silverton hot off a victory at South Albany and winners of four of its last five games.
The Dragons found out quickly that paper wins, well, they don't exist.
"Definitely," an exasperated Jessica Mitchell said when asked if she thought her squad came into the game flat, with Dallas trailing in the first quarter, 19-8.
"It was just overconfidence, I guess."
Dallas (9-5, 2-3 MWC after Tuesday's 66-29 loss at West Albany) would fight back to tie the contest at the half but Silverton used an advantage on the boards -- plus plenty of second-chance points -- to put it out of reach late for a 50-43 win.
Silverton (6-8, 2-3) outrebounded Dallas, 37-29, but the Foxes' 15 offensive rebounds might have hurt the most.
Dallas' 7-for-17 performance from the free-throw line made it a game the Dragons -- who were put into a four-way tie for third place in the conference after the loss -- would like to forget.
Dallas’ Taylor Fennell pulls up for jump shot Friday against Silverton. Dallas fell, 50-43.
Dallas coach Dave Brautigam just hopes his young squad learns from it.
"We talked to our kids about making adjustments," he said. "If you give up an offensive rebound, it shouldn't happen again, you should see that. Your next mentality should be, `I gotta go box out.'"
Dallas has made adjustments before.
After a hard-fought loss at Corvallis exposed some issues on pulling down rebounds and corralling loose balls, the Dragons worked on both areas during practice following the loss.
In the 49-23 victory at South Albany Jan. 15, Brautigam said he didn't think the Rebels "had one offensive rebound."
"We worked on that before South Albany and we did great and then we worked on it a little bit before Silverton and we didn't apply it," Brautigam said.
"How do we do it one game and not the next?"
Sarah Mitchell led the Dragons with 18 points in the win over South Albany, while Jessica Mitchell pumped in a team-high 15 points, 13 rebounds, five steals and three assists in Friday's loss.
The senior, though, probably would have traded all that for a win.
"We just always have to have a chip on our shoulder and play tough every day," she said following Friday's game.
"We know teams are coming for us and we're just going to have to perform our best every day."
Sarah Mitchell added 12 points and 10 rebounds in Friday's loss and Taylor Fennell had four points and four steals.
NEXT GAMES
Crescent Valley at Dallas
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Dallas at Woodburn
When: Jan. 30, 7 p.m.
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