Published: November 19, 2008 12:57 pm      

Latta teams stall out at Dale

Dale — By BOB FORREST

Sports Writer

DALE — Latta's basketball teams didn't have to worry much about protecting a lead in Tuesday's season-opening doubleheader at Dale.

The Panthers and Lady Panthers combined to lead for a TOTAL of 36 seconds in dropping the twinbill, and both struggled all night with spotty shooting, critical turnovers and an inability to find an answer for a hot shooter wearing the home white and red.

Dale's Brenna Burnett poured in 23 points, and the Lady Pirates (No. 4 in Class 2A) had 18 takeaways while holding Latta to 13-for-31 shooting in a convincing 52-34 victory. In the boys game, Jimmy Doolin scored 22 points, including nine during a pivotal fourth-quarter run, and the Pirates forced 19 turnovers and limited the Panthers to 12 field goals in 34 tries en route to a 42-30 win.

BOYS

Dale 42, Latta 30

Latta trailed just 29-27 after Reed Johnson (the top returning scorer off last year's 19-10 Panther squad) hit his only field goal of the night — a 3-pointer off a dish from fellow sophomore Dylan Tinkler — with 7:15 to play, but Latta (No. 14 in 2A) missed five shots and turned the ball over four times in its next nine possessions over the next six-plus minutes.

Doolin, meanwhile, went 4-for-5 from the field and added a free throw to fuel a 13-0 Dale run in a span of just over three minutes capped by a four-point trip down the floor (with Doolin driving to the basket for a pair of layups) that put the Pirates up 42-27 with 2:22 left.

Turner Coon banked in a short jumper and, after being fouled on the shot, completed a conventional 3-point play to make it 32-27 with 5:33 remaining, then Doolin took advantage of two of Latta's four straight turnovers (in a span of just 65 seconds) to score five points in 10 seconds. He was fouled on a putback of an offensive rebound with five minutes left to extend the lead to eight, then he quickly got a steal and layup to give the Pirates their first double-digit lead since early in the third quarter at 37-27.

A Trace Dilliner free throw was the only score by either team over the next two minutes, but Doolin finally broke the game open with his back-to-back baskets to cap the decisive spurt. He was fouled on his first layup and missed the free throw, but after Darin Greene grabbed an offensive rebound on the miss, Doolin cut to the basket again for another layup at the 2:22 mark to give Dale its biggest lead of the night.

Sheldon Bond finally ended the Latta dry spell on a 3-pointer with 1:05 to play for the final points of the night by either team.

The Panthers took their only lead of the game at 5-4 on a 3-pointer from the corner by Tyler Reeves off a feed from Wacey Henderson with 4:20 left in the opening quarter, but Doolin drained a 3-pointer just 19 seconds later to ignite a 9-0 Dale run over the next five minutes.

Seyth Roebuck trimmed a 13-5 Dale lead to four points with 5:49 left in the half on back-to-back baskets (his only two of the game) in a span of just 31 seconds before the Pirates scored nine of the next 11 points (including another Doolin 3-pointer) and took a 22-11 lead on an off-balance shot by Greene with 1:10 left in the half. Reeves' putback of an offensive rebound 20 seconds later left Latta down 22-13 at the break.

Dale (1-1) took its biggest lead of the game to that point at 25-13 on Greene's putback of a missed free throw by Dilliner with 7:40 left in the third quarter, then Latta scored 11 straight points — including a pair of baskets by Henderson and a 3-pointer from Tanner Wear — in a span of 4:20 to pull to within a point with 2:05 left in the period.

Doolin hit a baseline jumper in the final seconds of the quarter to put the Pirates up 27-24 heading to the fourth, and Dilliner's layup just 29 seconds into the final period made it 29-24 before Johnson drained his 3-pointer 16 seconds later to make it a one-possession game for the final time.

Although Doolin was the only player from either team to finish in double figures, Dilliner pulled down 11 rebounds and Greene added seven to lead the Pirates to a 29-26 advantage on the boards. Henderson finished 3-for-5 from inside the arc (and 3-for-7 overall) and led Latta with six points.

GIRLS

Dale 52, Latta 34

Latta got big games from Sara Miller — who finished with a career-high 16 points — and Molly McQuay (11 points on 5-of-8 shooting) and outrebounded Dale, 25-24, but the Lady Pirates committed just seven turnovers and hit 19-of-38 field goal attempts.

Miller's free throw 57 seconds into the game gave Latta a 1-0 lead before Emilee Lawson drained a 3-pointer from the corner 17 seconds later, and Dale never trailed again. Latta was down just 13-9 after Miller hit a layup off a beautiful feed from Autumn Lawrence with 4.3 seconds left in the first quarter, and Miller hit all three baskets in a 6-2 run that trimmed a 15-9 Dale lead with 7:13 left in the half to 17-15 at the 5:40 mark.

Dale (2-0) answered with a 7-0 run of its own capped by a 3-pointer from Sulphur move-in Linlee Blevins at the 2:15 mark to make it 24-15, and Latta trailed 26-17 at intermission after a layup by McQuay off an assist from Caitlyn James with a minute left in the half.

But Burnett muscled in a tough jumper with McQuay in her face just 24 seconds into the third quarter, Blevins and Emilee Lawson added 3-pointers over the next three minutes to extend the Dale lead to 34-20, and Latta never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.

Miller hit six of her seven field goal attempts and added four free throws before going to the bench after being shaken up in a collision while getting a deflection on defense with 5:42 left in the game. But while she and McQuay were a combined 11-for-15, the rest of the Latta lineup was 2-for-16 from the field.

Blevins joined Burnett in double figures, hitting four of her six shots and both of her free throw attempts to finish with 12 points, and Lawson added nine points for Dale.



BY THE NUMBERS



Tuesday’s Games

GIRLS

At Dale

Dale 52, Latta 34

LATTA 9 10 4 11 — 34

DALE 13 13 18 8 — 52

LATTA: Sara Miller 5-7, 4-7, 16; Molly McQuay 5-8, 1-6, 11; Caitlyn James 1-2, 1-2, 4; Skyler Jenson 1-9, 1-2, 3. Totals: 13-31, 7-17, 34.

DALE: Brenna Burnett 9-13, 5-7, 23; Linlee Blevins 4-6, 2-2, 12; Emilee Lawson 3-5, 1-5, 9; Kaylee Wilkins 2-9, 2-4, 6; Kendra Stewart 1-3, 0-0, 2. Totals: 19-38, 10-18, 52.

Turnovers: Latta 18, Dale 7

Steals: Latta 6, Dale 7 (Burnett 3).

Rebounds: Latta 25 (Jenson 6, Miller 5), Dale 24 (Heather Anderson 5).

3-point goals: Latta 1-5 (James 1-2), Dale 4-7 (Blevins 2-2, Lawson 2-3)

Fouled Out: None



BOYS

At Dale

Dale 42, Latta 30

LATTA 5 8 11 6 — 30

DALE 11 11 5 15 — 42

LATTA: Wacey Hendeerson 3-7, 0-0, 6; Reed Johnson 1-6, 2-2, 5; Tyler Reeves 2-7, 0-2, 5; Seyth Roebuck 2-4, 0-0, 4; Sheldon Bond 1-2, 0-0, 3; Tanner Wear 1-5, 0-0, 3; Steven Reed 1-1, 0-0, 2; Dylan Tinkler 1-1, 0-0, 2. Totals: 12-34, 2-4, 30.

DALE: Jimmy Doolin 9-17, 2-3, 22; Turner Coon 3-7, 1-1, 7; Darin Greene 3-7, 0-1, 6; Trace Dilliner 1-9, 3-7, 5; Zach Johnson 1-1, 0-0, 2. Totals: 17-45, 6-12, 47.

Turnovers: Latta 19, Dale 11

Steals: Latta 5, Dale 8

Rebounds: Latta 26 (Henderson 9), Johnson 6), Dale 29 (Dilliner 11, Greene 7)

3-point goals: Latta 4-9 (Wear 1-4, Johnson 1-1, Reeves 1-1, Bond 1-1), Dale 2-5 (Doolin 2-4).

Fouled Out: None.