Lady Bulldogs celebrate end of season with victory at home

Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS Decatur's Abby Tilley (23) goes for a jumper from outside the lane during the Decatur-Mulberry senior girls' basketball contest at Peterson Gym Feb 9. Tilley led the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs with 19 points including four three-point shots.
Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS Decatur's Abby Tilley (23) goes for a jumper from outside the lane during the Decatur-Mulberry senior girls' basketball contest at Peterson Gym Feb 9. Tilley led the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs with 19 points including four three-point shots.

DECATUR -- For seniors Jackie Herrera and Airbus Dungsungneon, it was a fairytale ending to their high school basketball careers as their teammates worked together to give them a victory and the Lady Bulldogs handily defeated the Mulberry Lady Yellow Jackets, 56-34.

It was clear from the onset that the Lady Bulldogs came to win as they quickly established control of the contest early in the first half, overwhelming the Lady Yellow Jackets' defense and building an 11 point margin going to the second half.

The Decatur defense held Mulberry's scoring opportunities to only four points in the third quarter, while the offense extended the lead to 20.

The Lady Yellow Jackets tried in vain to get back into the contest in the final eight minutes, but the Lady Bulldogs held on to their lead. When the final buzzer sounded, the Decatur Lady Bulldogs took their seventh and final victory of the 2017-18 regular season over the Mulberry Lady Yellow Jackets, 56-34.

Joining the Lady Bulldogs for the first time were three freshmen from the junior high team, Stephanie Sandoval, Hailey Shaffer and Myriam Ocampo. All three were able to go into the game late in the third quarter, with Sandoval and Shaffer managing to find the basket for two points each.

In the final few seconds of the game, Coach Ashley Riggles put Dungsungneon back into the lineup with one goal in mind, to get her first basket. She tried a few times but, when the shot was unavailable, she elected to pass it off to her teammates. Finally, with only a few seconds left in the regular season, Dungsungneon took a shot which just missed the rim of the goal. Dungsungneon will have the district tournament to work in her first points of her high school career.

The Lady Bulldogs will travel to Alpena to participate in the 1A Northwest district tournament Feb. 12 where they face Lead Hill, which the Lady Bulldogs defeated twice this season.

Decatur-Mulberry girls game stats:

Decatur...............11^18^13^ 14 -- 56

Mulberry.............. 8^10^4^12 -- 34

Scoring stats:

Decatur: Abby Tilley -- 19 (four 3-pointers), Paige Vann -- 16 (three 3-pointers), Desi Meek -- 8, Sammie Skaggs -- 4, Jackie Herrera -- 4, Hailey Shaffer -- 2, Stephanie Sandoval -- 2, Destiny Mejia -- 1.

Mulberry: Amanda Jones -- 21 (one 3-pointer), Madyson Hudspeth -- 7 (one 3-pointer), Paige Childers -- 5, Jessie Robbins -- 1.

Three-point shots: Decatur 7, Mulberry 2.

Sports on 02/14/2018