GIRLS HS BASKETBALL: Lady Dawgs earn two big wins

Dalton’s Ella Lunsford and Sarah Witmer last week against Rittman and Wooster. (Photos by Amber Doty)

Dalton’s Maddy West, Mia Weaver and Tess Denning. (Photos by Amber Doty)

BY ARIEL STAHLER 
Gazette & News sports writer

As the saying goes, there’s no place like home, but it was on the road where Dalton High School’s varsity girls basketball team earned two big road wins last week.

The Lady Dawgs had no problem against Rittman Jan. 28. Dalton ran past the In-dians 62-20. The game started with Dalton taking a 23-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. By halftime, they had extended their lead to 36-13. Dalton held Rittman scoreless in the third quarter and then outscored them 12-7 in the final quarter.

“Rittman is a very young and inexperienced team,” said Dalton head coach Katie Miller. “We did a good job coming out and playing well. We were able to rotate a lot of players throughout the game.”

Ella Lunsford scored the same points as Rittman did for the whole game. She finished with 20 points, two re-bounds and five assists. Tess Denning scored 14 points, grabbed nine rebounds and passed two assists. Addesa Miller ended with 13 points, two boards and two assists. Kylee Johnson had five points and two assists. Maddy West sank a shot from 3-point range and also passed one assist. Mia Weaver contributed two points, three rebounds and three assists. Lauren Clos had two points, two rebounds and three as-sists. Sarah Witmer scored two points and pulled one rebound. Marley Clark made one free throw and snagged two rebounds. Piper Cannon had two boards and one assist.

Dalton left Wooster with a 67-45 win after their Jan. 30 game. Lunsford again led her team with 15 points, in addition to three rebounds and two assists. Katie Miller gave praise for her team’s defense during the game.
“Wooster has a nice point guard, Nora Levy,” she said. “We did a good job containing their guard play and defending their posts. Overall, it was one of our better team wins.”

Denning scored 12 points and ripped down nine re-bounds. Addesa Miller finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. Weaver had 12 points, three boards and four assists. Clos added 11 points, four rebounds and two assists. Witmer had two points and two assists, while Clark scored one point and grabbed one rebound. West pulled down two boards and passed three assists. Charity Green ripped two rebounds.

Katie Miller noted how her team approaches improvement over the course of a season.

“We are learning each week,” she said. “We will continue to work to improve our areas of weakness and prepare for our upcoming opponent. We are young, so learning takes time, but our players are doing a great job each day.”
Dalton’s JV team defeated Wooster 58-40. Kylee Johnson led with 31 points. Piper Cannon added eight points.