DECATUR -- It was Sammie Skaggs' night to shine as her 24 points led the Decatur Lady Bulldogs to victory over the Life Way Lady Warriors during senior night at Peterson Gym in Decatur Feb. 5.
In their final appearance before the home crowd, Skaggs, along with seniors Desi Meek, Paige Vann and Savanna Dodson, gave a performance that had Lady Bulldog fans into the contest to the very end.
The game got off to a sluggish start with neither team able to attack the boards until two minutes and fifteen seconds into the first quarter when Decatur's Desi Meek hit her second free throw for the Lady Bulldogs' first point of the night. Next possession, Life Way's Abby Moseley hit a layup for two points and the early lead. Neither team played particularly well for the remainder of the quarter. Annabelle Schopper hit her second free throw for the only other Lady Bulldog score in the first quarter. The Lady Warriors connected with three more field goals to give Life Way an 8-2 advantage going into the second quarter.
Life Way continued building on its lead through much of the quarter until a pair of three-point field goals by Abby Tilley brought the Lady Bulldogs back to within five. With less than a minute left, a shot by Paige Vann tied the game at 17. The Lady Warriors hit a field goal a few seconds later and was fouled after the shot, giving Life Way the chance to extend its lead to three, which it did. A foul with only a few seconds remaining in the quarter sent Skaggs to the line with the chance to close the gap to one. She connected with both shots and time ran out, giving Life Way a one-point lead going into the break.
The Lady Warriors managed to stay ahead of the Lady Bulldogs in the third quarter, building up a seven-point lead going into the final eight minutes of the contest.
Decatur managed to keep pace with Life Way, still behind by seven when the Lady Bulldogs suddenly came alive and began mowing down the Life Way lead. By the time the game reached the 3:08 mark, Decatur pulled to within one when Vann was fouled, sending her to the free-throw line. She missed both shots but Skaggs rebounded the second shot, dribbled to the left wing and came back in putting up a jumper that connected for the Lady Bulldogs' first lead of the half. Skaggs shot brought the Decatur fans to their feet for the first time in the game.
Life Way came back to tie the game at 44 with just over a minute to play. With 51 seconds remaining, Skaggs put up a layup that bounced off the rim and back into Skaggs' arms. Her second layup went in to tie the game at 46 all. With only 10 seconds left, the Lady Warriors fouled Skaggs once more, sending her to the free-throw line for the go-ahead points.
Skaggs hit both shots and once again Peterson Gym erupted into a thunderous standing ovation as the Lady Bulldogs pulled ahead by two. Time ran out on the Life Way Lady Warriors as the Decatur Lady Bulldogs took their final season contest with a victory, 48-46.
In addition to Skaggs' 24 points (16 of 20 from the free-throw line for 80 percent), others contributing to the win were Abby Tilley with eight points, Annabelle Schopper with seven, Desi Meek with five and Paige Vann with four.
The Lady Bulldogs finished the 2018-19 regular season with 10 wins and 11 losses, with a conference record of 6-4, for one of the best finishes since the late 1990s. They finished the season in third place in the 2A Region 1 Conference, which earned them a number three seed in the district tournament played Feb. 11 at Yellville. Decatur was to face the sixth seed, Haas Hall Lady Mastiffs, a team the Lady Bulldogs defeated in two previous outings.
Should Decatur beat Haas Hall, they will advance to the next round on Feb. 12. A win would send the Lady Bulldogs to the championship round on Feb. 15. Should Decatur lose the Feb. 12 contest, it will play in the third play round, played before the championship contest, and earn an automatic bye in the regional playoffs in Danville Feb 20.
Sports on 02/13/2019