By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore. — The Dayton Girls Basketball team found a way to close out a hard fought win over Trinity Lutheran on Thursday afternoon to open the Crusader Classic Black Bracket.
In the past, in a game like this that was physical and challenged them mentally, they would crumble. This time around, they buckled in and went to work
“We’ve came so far from last year. If we were in that last year, we would shut down, this year…we’re so much better,” said Dayton’s Charly Upmeyer.
Upmeyer put Dayton ahead with 1:40 left in the game with a basket, 33-32 at this point. The Saints answered with a three-pointer to regain the lead moments later.
Dayton would find an answer, an And-One opportunity that Jayden Mayhew capitalized on with 48.7 seconds that was followed by sound defense to help lift the Pirates over Trinity Lutheran 36-35 as Dayton improves to 7-1 on the year.
“We knew that it was going to be a good competitive game. So I think we all were excited to go up against them, they’re a tough team,” said Bella Lopez. “We were excited to go out there and show what we can do, even though it was a little bit of a nail bitter.”
Lopez and Hadley Hughes each led the Pirates with nine points.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
