BRADFORD – The Lady Railroaders basketball team got off to a good start in their Thursday night game with Dixie and fended off several Greyhound runs along the way to earn a senior night win 57-47.
Bradford honored their two seniors, Megan Wood and Daphne Lavey, prior to the game, and both would have an impact on the game.
While some teams were playing for a league title the Dixie Greyhounds 3-18 overall and 0-10 in the league came to battle the 3-17, 1-9 Railroaders, both playing for something else. The was no league title on the line, just pride and building toward future expectations for each of their respective programs.
The emotions of a senior night on your own floor can often take a while to settle … but fortunately for Bradford, they would get off to a great start by knocking down five triples to take a 20-12 lead in the opening frame.
Dixie took the early lead 3-1 on a triple from one of their three seniors: Kaitlyn Loch who scored 6 of the Hounds 12 first quarter points.
The Roaders fired back with a trey from freshman Hayven Edwards and then back-to-back threes from sophomore guard Lilly Canan to go up 10-4.
With the score 12-9, Bradford junior Claire Hill would add a triple to move ahead 15-9 and they would add the 5th three-ball from junior Rylee Dotson in the final seconds of the first quarter for the 20-12 lead.
The start to the game was a welcome surprise to Bradford coach Josh Seidling.
“We’ve been waiting for a game like this as many threes as we shoot, but it was nice to see them see the ball go in. Confidence has been a big thing with us the past couple years, and for them to finally see that they’re capable of scoring and bunches, that was really nice to see,” Seidling commented.
It would also be safe to say that Dixie coach Justin Keirns was just as surprised.
“They definitely caught us off guard when they came out and hit five threes that wasn’t really in our game plan or scouting report and number 14 (Lilly Canan) hits two in row to start,” Keirns stated.
Bradford would move ahead 24-12 by the 6:30 mark of the 2nd quarter, prompting a Keirns timeout.
The timeout proved good because Dixie responded, going on a 6-0 run over the next four minutes while holding the Roaders scoreless.
Bradford would hold a 28-20 lead at the half, but Dixie was hanging around.
The Railroaders would look to their senior Megan Wood after the break, as she scored eight of her nine game points in the third quarter by attacking the inside.
The scrappy Greyhounds though continued to battle and got two big triples from senior Cooper Miller to stay within reach 32-28 with just under 5 minutes in 3rd quarter.
The four-point margin would stay that way, 39-35 … but with 3 seconds left, Bradford stole the ball, and Claire Hill made a lay-up to go ahead 41-35 into the final frame.
Bradford Senior Megan Wood fouled out of the game, giving Dixie hopes of a comeback as her presence was big for Bradford, as noted by coach Keirns.
“Number 10 (Megan Wood) was crashing the boards and getting a lot of long rebounds and getting some second chances that definitely didn’t help us. I think once she got in foul trouble there in the first, she got two, and she came out, we sort of caught rhythm. And then even into the second, I think she caught her third, and he pulled her back out, and we battled back,” Keirns explained.
There would be no quit from Dixie as they kept up the good fight, and Bradford looked to the experience of junior guard Rylee Dotson to guide them in the 4th quarter after Wood fouled out.
Dotson led all scorers in the game with 22 points, but it was her 13 points in the 4th quarter making the difference as the Greyhounds nipped at their heels.
Dotson’s play drew admiration by her coach who acknowledged this was a culmination of grooming over the years and hard work on her part.
“From her freshman year, she has been a starter, just numbers-wise. Then she kind of became our point guard by default last year, so we threw a lot at her, and there was pressure on her shoulders. She has to set us up, the one who leads on defense, and also has to score. She works so hard and is starting to show what she’s capable of doing,” Seidling said.
“These stretches of games, the gauntlet of a schedule with Arcanum, Tri-Village, Mississinawa, Fort Recovery, and Bethel, she was finding her shot in some of those games … but not to this magnitude. Today, she really showed what she’s capable of doing and carried herself very mature on the court, and I couldn’t ask for a better leader,” Praised Seidling.
It was a fun night for Bradford on many levels and a great way for the seniors to go out as they held off Dixie 57-47 for just their 4th win of the season and 2-9 in the WOAC.
“That was awesome what a great win to respect our seniors in the right way. A lot of times, senior nights can kind of be a trap game. Emotions are high, but the girls, they stayed focused. Even when adversity hit and Dixie kept battling back, they made shots when they needed, and to get this win for our two seniors makes this special,” Siedling said as he talked about what the two seniors meant to him and the program.
“I’ve coached Daphne Lavy now for three years and she has just been an outstanding teammate. She always works hard, never complains, shows up, puts the work in, and is the definition of a true role player in the sense that she knows what needs to be done. It can be multiple roles, whatever game, if we need some rebounds, she can come in and help you, if it’s a defensive assignment, she can come in and help you. She’s never created animosity among the team but chose to bring us together,” Siedling added.
“I’ve coached Megan Wood for two years, and she really took a huge step this year with her leadership and put a lot of work in the off-season and has been very versatile and has done a lot for us this year,” Siedling offered.
“I’m going to miss both of these girls tremendously, they’ve really helped me establish the culture here and how we want to be, how Bradford basketball needs to be, by how they carry themselves on and off the court and they are going to be missed,” Siedling concluded.
Even though Dixie came up short in the game, coach Keirns was pleased with how his team responded and how well they competed the entire game after getting down early.
“We will fight no matter where we’re at in a game, we just couldn’t get over the hump tonight. I think our effort was there pretty much the whole night, a couple loose balls that we lost, maybe some execution down the stretch, but we had some girls playing positions that they’re not used to tonight as we had a couple girls out fighting illness and that definitely didn’t help us. But you know, at some point we just got to get over that hump,”
“We have some youth; the sophomores are pretty much juniors now, and they’ve got to start stepping up like that in those moments. But the one thing is they competed that’s the biggest thing, they’re not walking off the floor at any time at 3-19 saying that I didn’t give everything I had, they’re always all out 100% effort, even in practice. Basketball is a long, grueling season, and I can assure you that every practice we have, we have girls who show up, they want to learn. They’re eager, and that’s huge for me. Being a young coach, having a group like that who bought in to that extent, especially without the results but it’s definitely a building point for us,” Keirns said.
Dixie sophomore Kendyl Hypes looks to drive the ball, she led the Greyhounds in scoring with 13 points. (Dale Barger photo)
The Greyhounds were led in the game by sophomore Kendyl Hypes with 13 points followed by senior guard Cooper Miller with 11 points.
Coach Keirns talked about Miller and his other two seniors, Kaitlyn Loch and Hailey Armstrong after the game and what they have meant to the program.
“So, one of the other building points for us, I think is our senior class who has really set a good precedent for us. You know, when we don’t understand things because of our youthfulness,” Keirns said.
“Haley Armstrong has come in after not playing for several years of basketball, and she’s always wanting to learn, eager and ask questions. I think that’s something that a lot of our young girls look up to, and they’re starting to do, and I see them emulate that attitude from her,” Keirns remarked.
“Kaitlyn Loch is probably one of the most athletic girls I’ve ever seen in my life, and she just has the willpower to beat anyone that’s in front of her. I think she showed us that tonight in the first quarter, she got the ball on a couple fast breaks and finished some layups,” Keirns beamed.
“Cooper Miller has shown a little bit of resiliency, and I think it has shown through within our program, you know, over the summer, I think if we don’t have her, we might not push back, and we might not fight back against Bradford like we did tonight. And I think just her resiliency, coming back from three knee surgeries in four years, has been tremendous for us. I think that leadership a can-do attitude and drive that she has shown our younger girls will really pay dividends in the future for us,” Coach Keirns concluded.
