Lady Bucs hammer Riverdale

Southern Sports & Travel

The second ranked Bowling Green Lady Bucs advanced to the Class AA semi-finals with a 64-45 win over seventh ranked Riverdale yesterday afternoon in Grenada. Junior Mackayla Dykes scored 21 points as Bowling Green improved to 33-3 and will face fourth ranked Brookhaven Friday at 2:15.

Bowling Green spotted Riverdale a 5-4 lead during the three minutes of the opening quarter but the Lady Bucs got rolling.

Ashley Foret’s steal and lay-in at the 5:12 mark gave Bowling Green their first lead at 6-5 and the Lady Bucs increased the lead to 9-5 on a Mackayla Dykes 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2:53 remaining in the quarter.

(Above) Bowling Green's Caroline Haik (#10) fights for a rebound in the closing minutes

Bowling Green finished off a 13-5 run to go up 15-7 on an Ashley Foret transition basket but Riverdale scored off a Heather Giddings offensive rebound and put back to trim the deficit to 15-9 at the end of one quarter of play.

After a Caroline Haik free throw gave Bowling Green a 16-9 advantage to start the second quarter Riverdale made a charge.

Morgan Garrett’s 3-pointer from the wing pulled the Lady Rebels to within four points at 16-12 but Bowling Green quickly put a damper on any attempt by Riverdale to gain the momentum.

The Lady Bucs erupted with an 18-4 run to take their biggest lead at 34-16 with 28 seconds remaining in the first half.

Riverdale closed out the half down 34-19 following a Morgan Garrett 3-pointer as time expired.

Riverdale pulled to within nine points of Bowling Green at 43-34 with just over one minute left in the third quarter but the Lady Rebels watched the lead swell back to 49-34 on Reagan Moody’s bucket in the paint and an offensive rebound and put back from Caroline Haik with 1:04 left in the quarter.

(Above) Bowling Green point guard Mackayla Dykes (#2) pushes the pace in the second half 

Mackayla Dykes extended the Bowling Green cushion to fifteen points on an 18 foot baseline jumper at the buzzer.

A Morgan Garrett 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter got the Lady Rebels back to within twelve points at 49-37 but they would get no closer.

Bowling Green grabbed their biggest lead of the game at 64-42 on two Mackayla Dykes free throws with 23 remaining.

Bowling Green was led by Mackayla Dykes with a game high 21 points, Reagan Moody added 15, Ashley Foret 13, Melissa Crowe 8 and Caroline Haik 7.

Morgan Garrett led Riverdale (27-8) with 20 points, Melissa Savell had 11, Rebekah Burleson 6, Heather Giddings 5, Caitlin Finton 2 and Kallie Bethard 1.

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