No. 11 Dragons bag 2 wins

Toney Cooper’s Dragons out-scored Marlow and Lexington 116-59 in two games last week hiking the No. 11 Dragons to 10-2 on the season.

Led by Kenna Esparza’s nine points, Purcell topped the Outlaws, 47-36.

“We did not shoot the ball particularly well in that game,” Cooper said. “What we did particularly in the first half was play very good defense.

“Marlow slowed the game as much as they could and ran very good motion offenses waiting for a breakdown defensively to get the perfect shot.

“Our kids were extremely disciplined and held them to six points in the first half sending them to the line only once,” Cooper said praising his squad.

Purcell had balanced scoring with Jenna Avery and Ella Resendiz following Esparza’s nine with 8 each.

“We forced them into 25 turnovers and that was the difference for us,” Cooper said.

The Dragons turned around and pinned a 69-23 loss on visiting Lexington for the 2024 homecoming tilt.

Esparza’s 19 points, including five buckets from beyond the arc, led all scorers. She was joined in double figures by Alyssa Thompson with a dozen. Thompson’s big night included being chosen as the 2024 basketball homecoming queen.

“Although we beat Marlow, I was not at all happy with how we played defensively in the second half so coming into the game with Lexington our focus was playing four complete quarters of intense defense,” the coach said.

Marlow out-scored the Dragons 30-28 in the final two periods.

Purcell turned up the defensive intensity and held them to 23 total points and forced 30 turnovers.

The Dragons scored 30 points off those turnovers and were clicking on offense from the opening tip.

Esparza had seven steals to go with her 19 points.

“Tinley Winters and Ella Resendiz owned the boards for us,” Cooper said. “I’m happy with our team’s performance and how we locked in defensively. It was definitely the perfect ending for homecoming this year.”

Boys

Both Lexington and Purcell shot out of the gate on offense in their contest with Purcell topping the visitors 21-19 in the opening frame.

Lexington actually took a one-point lead going into intermission, 35-34.

Purcell kept its foot on the gas pouring in 37 second half points while holding the Bulldogs to 24 to win going away, 71-60.

Kobe Freeman’s 32 points led all scorers. He was joined in double digits by Kylen DeFreeze with 16.

The Dragons got off to a slow start in their game earlier in the week and lost a heart-breaker 47-46 at the hands of Marlow. Purcell trailed at halftime, 28-19, before battling back in the final two quarters.

Purcell actually had the lead down the stretch  but came up just short.

Freeman’s game-high 25 points paced the Dragons. He burned the nylons for four treys including three in the first period.

After a rough start on Tuesday night against Marlow, we played much better in the second half.

“We had the lead down the stretch and had a few unfortunate things happen. Some thing’s are out of your control and there isn’t much you can do about those. We do recognize what we need to do to improve and I believe this team will do so,” head coach Roger Raper said.

“On Friday against Lexington both teams got off to hot starts,” the coach said. “We were able to defend better in the second half and slow them down.”

Our offense continued to be on pace and we were able to pull away,” Raper said.

He mentioned the scoring of Kobe Freeman in both games and DeFreeze for his 16 against Lexington.

“Sophomore Jaime Resendiz had six points and nine rebounds in the Lexington game and continues to get better with each outing.

“Also, junior Brayden Tharp is starting to shoot the ball like we think he is capable. We are excited to watch his progress. We’ve got a big week coming up with  Washington on Tuesday followed by a very tough HOOT here at The Reimer Center this weekend,” Raper concluded.