The Tioga Lady Bulldogs basketball team opened its district schedule with a 55-41 win over the Alvord Lady Bulldogs at home Tuesday night.
Tioga was firing on all cylinders, slicing through Alvord’s defense, controlling the boards and routinely picking the pockets of the Alvord ball handlers.
“The second quarter we had a bit of a lull, but the first, the second and the third we got after it,” head girls basketball coach Luther Kirkpatrick said. “We protected the family. That’s our motto. We want to look out for each other and have each other’s back, and this was by far the best rebounding game we’ve had all year.”
Tioga jumped out to an early 19-9 lead in the first quarter, only to watch Alvord go on a 13-3 run in the second quarter and tie the game at 22 on a buzzer beater 3-pointer to close the half.
Both teams played well in the third quarter, with Tioga taking the slight edge and going into the fourth and final quarter with a 3-point advantage.
Tioga put the brakes on Alvord’s offense in the final quarter, holding them to 6 points, while its offense continued to attack the rim, putting up 16 points.
“Our practices are really fo- cused,” assistant coach Ragan Smith said. “One day's offense, one day's defense, and we've been working on being able to [switch] between our offense depending on what they're doing defensively, and our kids have picked it up quickly and can adapt depending on what the other team throws at them.”
Tioga’s performance was spearheaded by sophomore guard Ella Norwood and senior center Lindsey Byler, who combined for 43 points.
Norwood finished with 28 points, 8 rebounds and 9 steals, while Byler held down the low post with 15 points, 19 rebounds and 1 block.
Norwood credited her production to her teammates.
“It was a team effort,” she said. '… Basketball is my favorite [sport], and I work hard, but it wouldn’t mean anything if I didn’t have the team supporting me. The [numbers] would mean nothing if they weren’t there, playing hard and believing in me.”
Byler, who missed last season with a knee injury, said her double- double was inspired by being back on the court with her teammates and playing the sport she loves.
“I wanted to be there for my team,” she said. 'We have [small] numbers, and we don’t have the tallest girls, but we work well together.”
Tioga was pumped about the win, but Kirkpatrick emphasized that the team still has more work to do to improve.
“Starting 1-0 in district gives us a leg up on some of the other teams, so it’s a big deal for us, but we have to start playing all four quarters instead of three or two,” he said. “We can’t play three good [quarters] and be satisfied. We have to play a complete game.”
The Tioga Lady Bulldogs go on the road to battle the Chico Lady Dragons at 6:15 p.m. Friday.
* All individual stats included in this article were gathered from the statistics immediately available post-game.
Tioga sophomore guard Ella Norwood, right, came out firing, scoring 28 points in the Lady Bulldogs district opener. Martin Edwards/The Post-Signal
