Two wins in three tournament games has Lexington High girls’ basketball coach Jacobi Couch feeling pretty good about his team.

The Bulldogs opened play at the Arbuckle Winter Classic in Davis with a 57-44 loss to Velma Alma on Jan. 8 but rebounded with a 58-52 win over Roff on Jan. 9 and a 37-31 win over Wilson in the consolation championship game Jan. 10.

Senior guard Lexi Torres and freshman forward Blayke Givens led the tournament change for Lexington (4-9).

Torres, the team’s leading scorer, had 23 points against Roff and Givens added 15.

Against Wilson, senior guard Hadley Wilkins led the team with seven rebounds.

“I think we’re heading in the right direction,” Couch told The Register. “I think winning that consolation championship was good for us, just for our confidence. I think we kind of proved to ourselves that we can get stuff done.”

Much of the credit goes to Torres, who has provided leadership in the wake of some key injuries.

“She’s just been great because she can do a lot of different things,” Couch said. “She can rebound, guard and score. She gets to the free-throw line, and she knocks down her foul shots. But it’s been her leadership in general, just keeping everybody together and playing hard.”

Against Velma-Alma, Lexington struggled to score the ball and rebound, according to Couch. The Bulldogs shot nine free throws compared to 21 for their opponent.

“It wasn’t a referee thing,” Couch said. “We fouled. We spot them so many points off free throws that it’s just hard to overcome.”

Couch praised Givens for playing with more discipline on the defensive end.

“So, Blayke’s been in foul trouble in pretty much every game that we’ve played,” he said. “But in this tournament, she kind of stayed out of foul trouble and when she stays out foul trouble she can produce.

“She just makes us a whole lot better because she can play multiple positions.”

Boys

Despite the best efforts of sophomore guards Cash Dierking and Reece Beason, the Lexington boys lost three of four games to fall to 2-11 on the season.

Dierking had 17 points in a 69-49 loss to Asher on Jan. 5 and 18 points in a 53-43 win against Ringling in the Arbuckle Winter Classic on Dec. 9. Beason added 17 against Ringling.

The Bulldogs opened tournament play with a 65-21 loss to Velma-Alma, then dropped a close one to Roff by a 56-50 score Dec. 10

“I feel like we’re getting better every day,” coach Derek Clark told The Register. “Obviously there are still some things we’ve got to improve on. But I feel like the players are starting to buy in and move in the right direction, even though it may not show in our record.”