Slow start leads to 15th loss for East girls at Princeton

Gideon Dudgeon feels strongly that this season will pay off down the line for his Lakota East High School girls basketball team. But it’s pretty tough to deal with right now.

The Thunderhawks lost for the seventh time in eight games Saturday afternoon, making one field goal in the first half of a 46-31 Greater Miami Conference defeat at Princeton.

“We’re playing a lot of younger players, and learning how to be GMC-ready for a lot of them is going to take some time,” said Dudgeon, in his first season at East after directing Hamilton to a 17-7 record last year. “You can’t force them to grow up. They’ve got to go through the growing pains, and that’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

Sophomore guard Jordan Stanley scored a team-high 12 points for the Thunderhawks, who slipped to 4-15 overall and 4-10 in the conference. She said the players are trying to keep the faith.

“You kind of learn how to get through some of this stuff,” Stanley said. “You have to trust your teammates and have their back. I felt like we had a bad practice yesterday, so when we have bad practices, it carries over to the game. That’s why we started off slow, but we started to get our act together in the second half.”

The first half couldn’t have been much worse for East, which trailed 26-6 at the break. Secret Hughes opened the scoring with a layup in the first 18 seconds … the Thunderhawks’ next field goal, a Jasmine Floyd jumper, came with 5:22 left in the third period.

East responded to the Vikings’ early pressure with a bundle of turnovers. Princeton (14-6, 10-4) got in some foul trouble and pulled back, and the hosts couldn’t find a true rhythm the rest of the day.

“I don’t think we played with much energy or enthusiasm, but we got a win,” Vikings coach Jill Phillips said. “We called off the dogs because of the foul trouble. We were just trying to survive without getting kids with three fouls in the first half, and that was kind of how the game went after that.”

Trinity Morris had 15 points for Princeton, and Malika Wildon added seven points, five steals, seven assists and four boards. The Vikings committed 24 turnovers, 15 in the second half.

The Thunderhawks were 1 of 19 from the floor in the first two quarters and finished with a 19.1 shooting percentage. Bryn Mangold grabbed eight rebounds.

“We’re not as aggressive offensively as I think we need to be, and they don’t understand quite often that we need to be a little more forceful in getting to the rim,” Dudgeon said. “If we see contact, we kind of shy away from it. That’s just part of being young. We let Princeton come out and do what they wanted to do early in the game.

“We didn’t quit, and I don’t expect them to quit. We’ve just got to be able to execute a little bit better. I will never question their effort, but sometimes effort and intensity aren’t the same thing. They try hard, but we’re not as intense as I think we need to be, and when they overthink the game, it makes it really tough on us.”

Last season at Hamilton, Dudgeon was named an All-Ohio Division I Coach of the Year by the Associated Press.

“When I took this position, I said up front it was a different challenge,” he said. “They’ve had success here, so it’s how do you continue to grow and keep that success? Hamilton and East have different kids. They’re different types of programs, so I really try to avoid comparing the two. For me personally, I think I’m in a great spot, and we’re going to build off of it.”

Phillips was the head coach at East the last two seasons, so she’s quite familiar with the Thunderhawks roster.

“I don’t have any ill will towards East,” Phillips said. “The kids are great kids. I like them all.”

The Thunderhawks will host Mother of Mercy for Senior Night on Monday. Princeton will be at home against Mason on Wednesday.

Lakota East 2-4-9-16—31

Princeton 14-12-5-15—46

LAKOTA EAST (4-15, 4-10 GMC): Jasmine Floyd 1 2 4, Shaniyah Reese 1 1 3, Jordan Stanley 4 2 12, Abby Stoughton 0 1 1, Allison Colburn 0 1 1, Bryn Mangold 2 0 4, Secret Hughes 1 3 5, Megan Hatfield 0 1 1. Totals: 9-11-31

PRINCETON (14-6, 10-4 GMC): Malika Wildon 3 0 7, Trinity Morris 6 2 15, Ashley Thomas 0 1 1, Jacquelyn Hinesmon 3 0 6, Kamya Sandidge 2 0 4, Jimeisha Smith 2 0 4, Wilaysia White 1 0 3, DeAsia Reid 2 2 6. Totals: 19-5-46

3-pointers: L 2 (Stanley 2), P 3 (Wildon, Morris, White)

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