Coming off of the Thanksgiving break, the Lady Dragons competed in the annual Ririe Bulldog Shootout held December 5-7.  The three day tournament featured brackets for both Varsity and JV teams.  At the conclusion of the tournament, the Malad varsity claimed their second consecutive win.

The Lady Dragons opened their tournament by taking on the West Jefferson Panthers.  The MHS team jumped to a quick lead in the first quarter, starting off with a scoring drive by Izzy Haycock and a second lay in shot on their next possession.  Executing their offense well and capitalizing on open opportunities, the Lady Dragons tallied up 20 points before the end of the quarter.  Haycock, Brynnlee Jones, Mikell Keetch, and Mady Vanbebber helped secure that formidable lead by hitting a series of three point shots throughout the quarter.

In addition to their strong offense, their tough defense forced multiple turnovers that the Lady Dragons were able to convert into offensive opportunities.  The clamp down defense rarely allowed a shot, leaving them with only 10 points to end the quarter.  The defense only increased their intensity in the second quarter as they allowed only 2 points.

Coming back into the third quarter, Malad continued to dominate as they outscored the Panthers 15-9 and finished the game 50-34.  Keetch led the team in scoring with 14 points, followed by Kiley Miller with 12 and Haycock with 10.  Liv Nelson tallied up 10 rebounds with Vanbebber, Miller, and Haycock each adding 6.

Advancing to the next level of the tournament, the Lady Dragons played the Firth Cougars Friday evening.  Not letting up the intensity, landed 28 points in the opening quarter in their 76-50 victory.  Malad’s full court defense brought about chaos, forcing turnovers that led to fast break lay ins.  

Feeling desperate to keep up, the Firth players became aggressive in hopes to stop the full court domination.  Time and time again, the Lady Dragons found themselves at the free throw line shooting bonus shots.  Throughout the course of the game, Malad went 100% from the line.

Miller led the scoring against the Cougars with 18 points, followed by Keetch with 15, Jones and Haycock with 13 and Nelson with 12.  The Lady Dragons outrebounded their opponents 39 to 21.  Miller, Keetch and Vanbebber snagged 8 rebounds each.

With two wins to their name, the Lady Dragons had made their way into the championship game against the hosting team- the Ririe Bulldogs.  From the very tipoff, the game was a true dogfight.  Just seconds into the game, Miller found Haycock on the wing to hit a quick three pointer.  At the other end of the court, the Bulldogs patiently worked the ball around until they found their own opportunity and tied the game at 3.

Over the 16 minutes of the first half, the two teams traded the lead nine times before Malad pulled ahead 25-23.  With time winding down, Keetch found an opening to drive to the hoop to hit a short floater.  Vanbebber brought them within one point from the free throw line before Keetch tied it up at 23.  Ririe tapped the missed second free throw out of bounds, setting Malad up for a baseline inbound play.  Six seconds left, the Lady Dragons inbounded the ball without seeing a clear basket.  Vanbebber posted up and took the shot but it bounced out.  Keetch, on the weak side ready for the rebound, snagged the ball and put it back up just before the buzzer rang out. 

Coming in with high energy and high determination to the second half, the Lady Dragons finally secured the lead partway through the third quarter.  The Bulldogs weren’t ready to give up and battled back in the high scoring fourth quarter but the strong Malad defense held on to win out 59-50.

Haycock put up an impressive 25 points hitting 10 free throws, 3 three pointers and 3 field goals.  Jones tallied up stats across the board with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals and 3 blocks.  The three tournament wins to a 7-1 record and the #1 ranking for the 3A classification on IdahoSports.com.  

Head Coach Trevor Jones commented on the tournament, saying, “ It was a great weekend, awesome to go to a tournament to play three games in three days. It was a good opportunity to see different teams from around the state and other conferences. Our first game was early morning but the girls came out firing.  The semi final game was an upbeat fun fast paced game. We put up 28 points in the first quarter and 76 for the night.  We had five players in double figures. 

“The championship was more of a battle. It took us a little bit to get going but improved each quarter and defense stepped up big.   Izzy Haycock had a career high game going for 25 points. Brynnlee Jones nailed three huge three point shots and a couple crucial shots down the wire, adding 14 points in the second half to help secure the victory and tournament championship. 

“Overall it was a great weekend with lots of girls stepping up and playing hard.  It’s still early in the season trying to define roles and looking to continue to improve. We saw some great guard play winning the turnover battle as we are always looking to create turnovers off of pressure and have less turnovers than our opponents.  It was there in all three games. 

“Winning the rebound count each night is a big advantage.  We have some awesome posts that have really been putting in the work. When we combine those two things we are tough to beat. It Should be an exciting season. We know we need to stay focused, stay together as a team and always keep striving to improve.”

The Lady Dragons return to Ririe for their next scheduled game on Tuesday, December 10 before they host West Side on Saturday, December 14 for their first conference game of the season.