By Todd Wills
The Mildred Lady Eagles didn’t play the perfect final minute in Monday’s first-round game against Dawson.
But they won, and for first-year coach Ronnie Baker, trying to build a program with a young group of players, that’s more than enough, considering he was handed the job weeks before the season started.
Mildred held on to beat Dawson, 45-42, despite two late turnovers and a missed free throw in the final minute.
Dawson had possession in the final 19 seconds, but wasn’t able to get off a 3-pointer, instead missing three shots from close range.
“They’re learning,” Baker said. “We had the turnovers and you can’t do that. It was Christmas so it’s been a week since we’ve played or practiced. But Dawson had to do that too.”
Mildred trailed at halftime, 23-19. And Dawson took a 28-23 lead with 4:45 left in the third quarter on Rachel Ivie’s baseline jumper.
The Lady Eagles responded with eight straight points. They were able to get into a high-low post game and sophomore Katie Tapley made two hoops and freshman Olivia Farmer and sophomore Ashley Bonner also scored from close in.
Farmer, who has a sweet looking outside shot, closed out a 19-point quarter with a 3-pointer from just inside half court, about 35 feet from the basket.
“That third quarter we really came out and played well,” Baker said.
Dawson, which has had a solid start to the season under second-year coach Christina Reyna, didn’t go quietly into the night.
“We pretty much had control of the game,” Reyna said. “I tried to tell them to stop turning over the ball. We weren’t passing it when we should have been passing.”
Dawson fell behind 40-31, but Ivie started a comeback with a short jump shot to cut the lead to seven with 6:48 left in the game. Reagan Woodall made a free throw and Alicia Simmons scored to make it 40-36 with 3:17 left.
After Tapley made a mid-range jumper for a 42-36 lead, Simmons drove, hit a shot and was fouled. She made the free throw for a one-possession game at 42-39 with 1:53 left.
Mildred answered as Bonner made a short jumper. Then Ivie drove to the basket and made another traditional 3-point play for a 44-42 game with 53 seconds left.
Dawson got the ball back on an errant pass but didn’t convert. Hanna Muncy made 1 of 2 free throws with 19.2 seconds left for a 45-42 lead for Mildred, setting up the finish.
Mildred plays in a difficult district with Kerens and Edgewood, so Baker knows wins now will help build confidence when the Lady Eagles get back into district play next week.
“We need some success,” he said.
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