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Ellington powers past host into final at Lady Dawg Classic
VAN BUREN — The second day of competition at the Lady Dawg Classic featured a marquee matchup between the host and defending Class 2 state champion Ellington.
The Whippets advanced to the championship round with a 76-42 win, giving them a 2-0 start to the season.
“Van Buren came out early and pressed us and that’s the speed we like to play,” Ellington head coach David Burrows said. “We like to get up and down the court and we feel like we can run with anybody.”
Ellington was led by a stellar performance from Kaylee King with 39 points next to her name in the scorebook.
“Kaylee is someone that we have confidence in when she has the ball in her hands,” Burrows said. “She’s a true point guard. She can see the floor, call the plays and do whatever she wants to do with the basketball. We don’t have to call out every single play from the bench, she has the court vision that she can just call plays on the fly.”
Gretchen Hackworth was also in double figures with 18 points.
As for Van Buren, they’ll be playing for third place on Thursday night. The Lady Dawgs were led by Ella Wilbanks with 16 points and Katie Griffin had 13.
“Ella played amazing (Monday against Twin Rivers) and we told her that she would have to play harder against Ellington,” Van Buren head coach Erika Smith said. “She proved that in the first quarter and she had a challenge with guarding Kaylee King.”
Ellington started off the game with a 5-0 run in the first five minutes, but Van Buren got some momentum with Wilbanks leading the charge as she gave the Lady Dawgs an 8-7 lead with 2:30 to play in the first. However, Ellington regained the lead and ended the first eight minutes with a 15-12 advantage.
“We had to make some adjustments in the first quarter,” Burrows said. “After that we were able to get some easy buckets and transition easier.”
The Whippets extended their lead to 42-25 at halftime and started a running clock going into the fourth quarter up 60-36.
Ellington will face Liberty-Mountain View in the championship game at 8:30 p.m. Thursday after Doniphan and Van Buren will play for third place.
Doniphan came up just short in what proved to be an exciting game against Liberty as the Eagles came out with a 57-56 win.
Doniphan was able to get Brook Klepzig to the line for a one-and-one opportunity with the Donnettes down by one with 30 seconds on the clock in the fourth quarter. She converted both free throws, but a foul on the other end put Liberty on the line and they converted their two free throws.
Donnettes head coach Adam Epps called a timeout with 2.7 seconds showing on the clock and he ball to be inbounded at their own baseline. Doniphan got a shot away, but it didn’t fall as the buzzer sounded to end the ballgame.
The Donnettes were led by Sydni Speck with 20 points followed by Bailey Carson with 13 points. They will face Van Buren for third place on Thursday.
Before Doniphan’s game, Greenville did battle with Viburnum and the Lady Bears came out with an 80-25 win.
Micah Adams scored 32 points while Mattie Allen had 13 and Bryna Payne had 11. Greenville will play Twin Rivers, which beat Koshkonong 74-32 in the opening game Tuesday.
Taylor Watson led the Royals with 20 points as she was the only player to hit double digits. Briana South was just shy of double figures with nine points to her credit.