Dresden girls win 4th meeting over Fillies

MCKENZIE - In the first three meetings, Huntingdon's biggest advantage over Dresden came in the form of rebounding as the Fillies outrebounded them in each of the meetings.

But on Tuesday, Dresden did the better job crashing the boards as the Lady Lions beat Huntingdon 45-42 in the Region 7-A championship game at Bethel University.

It was Dresden's first region title since 1990.

“The first couple of times we played them, they beat us in rebounding in all three games,” Dresden coach Jonathan West said. “We told them coming into tonight that rebounding was going to be key, if we were going to win. We started out not being very aggressive, but after that first quarter, I thought we started playing really well.”

It was Huntingdon who came out in the first quarter firing on all cylinders jumping out to an early lead. Huntingdon’s Taylor Smith was perfect from the floor in the quarter scoring seven of the team's 19 points.

Huntingdon’s defense also caused problems throughout the opening quarter forcing several turnovers.

Dresden cut into the Huntingdon lead in the second quarter finishing the first half on an 8-0 run to make it 25-16 at the half.

“I told our girls at halftime that it was important that we cut the lead down to five by the end of the third quarter,” West said. “I thought if we were able to cut it down to five by the end of the third quarter, we were going to be in good shape.”

The Lady Lions listened to their coach as they trimmed into the deficit, cutting the Huntingdon lead down to 33-29 at the end of the quarter, taking better care of the basketball with one turnover in the quarter. Dresden had 12 first-half turnovers.

Dresden came out in the fourth quarter feeling confident about themselves and playing much better basketball.

With 1:28 left in the game and the Lady Lions in the midst of a 15-2 run, Dresden’s Kasey Gallimore knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner to put Dresden up 41-40. Gallimore followed that up with another lay-up and two free throws to claim the win.

Gallimore finished with a game-high 19 points and was named the Region 7-A MVP.

“I can’t say enough about Kasey,” West said. “She is capable of being this type of player every game, and she stepped up big for us tonight. She did not want to lose this game."

With the win, Dresden will host sub-state for the first time since 1990.

“I was in middle school, and these kids weren’t even born the last time we won a region championship,” West said. “The last three years we’ve been beaten every time in this game.

“It’s a good feeling to finally get this win and host sub-state at our place.”