DECATUR -- After winning their first game of the season Feb. 9, the Decatur Lady Bulldogs were poised and ready to play in the first round of the 2A 4West District Tournament at Peterson Gym in Decatur Feb. 17. But the problems that plagued the Lady Bulldogs throughout the season came back to haunt them when they took on the fifth-seed Union Christian Lady Eagles in the first game of the tournament.
The Lady Eagles quickly built a 15-point lead before the Decatur girls finally scored at the three-minute mark. Union Christian outscored Decatur by 21 points to take a 29-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. By the half, it was 34-10, Lady Eagles.
Decatur played a tough defense in the second half, holding Union Christian to only 13 points in the third and 9 points in the fourth, but the problems of capitalizing on defensive rebounds and turnovers cost Decatur the game, 56-29, ending the girls' season with a single victory.
Leading scorers for the Lady Bulldogs were Cameron Shaffer with 15, followed by Haley Burden with seven, Celine Prelle with five, and Meagan Smith with two.
The Lady Bulldogs finish the 2015-16 season with a 1-13 in conference play and 1-23 overall.
This was a building season for first-year coach Jeff Melton. With the help of assistant coach JoJo Tibbon, Melton was able to teach a new defensive strategy to, not only his returning juniors, but also to his rising stars from the junior-high team. Melton plans on working on shooting in the off-season and have his players ready for a new and exciting 2016-17 girls' basketball season.
Sports on 02/24/2016