Leyton girls fall at home against Bridgeport

DALTON – After its shooting went ice cold in the third quarter, the Leyton High girls' basketball team wasn't able to duplicate its season-opening win over Bridgeport in a non-district game Tuesday night.

The Lady Warriors record slipped to 4-6 following the 38-24 loss to a team two school sizes larger. Leyton, however, maintains a solid 2-1 mark in District D2-11. The Bulldogs' record improved to 7-4 and they sit at 1-2 in District C2-12.

Dani McKay led the Warriors in scoring with six points, while Diedra Waite chipped in four. Kassidy Kildow of Bridgeport led all scorers with 14.

Earlier in the day, the Warriors were inserted as the second seed in the annual Minuteman Activities Conference Tournament. Leyton will open the tournament on home ground where it will face No. 7 Banner County on Monday at 7 p.m. All games following the openers will be held in the Sidney Middle School Gym.

Despite a slow opening quarter, the Warriors stayed with the Bulldogs throughout the first half. Leyton managed just five points over the first eight minutes with a three pointer by Natalie Cruise and a deuce by Abbe Draper. But, the Bulldogs got the best of the home team with a 12-5 advantage.

"These slow starts in the first and third quarters have been a problem for us lately," said Warrriors' head coach Nick Newkirk. "But I liked how we kept fighting. We were down 10-0 and could have given up but nobody did."

From the late stages of the first period to the halftime buzzer, the Warriors outscored their guests 16-8 to crawl back into the ball game. Kaitlyn Berner opened the second eight minutes by completing a three-point play and McKay followed with a turn-around jumper.

The Warriors finished the half on a 6-0 run started by a well-executed pass play from Taylor Berner to Waite. McKay and Waite finished the run that left Leyton down by just two (18-16) after 16 minutes.

"(Bridgeport) is a good team and they've beaten some really good teams this year," McKay said. "I think maybe we got a little too excited in the third quarter and lost some focus."

The Bulldogs retook control of the game in the second half. Leyton had some opportunities in the third, but layups and foul shots refused to fall. The 'Dogs outscored the Warriors 8-0 to take a 26-16 lead after three.

"Playing a team like this makes us better," said senior Shaela Jenkins, who scored three points. "Our warmups seem to be fine. So it's hard to understand why we've had so many bad starts to games and halves since the Christmas break."

Some offensive form returned to Leyton in the final quarter, but Bridgeport added to its lead by four points.

Before opening up the MAC event, the Warriors will warm up in a battle of the top two seeds on Friday. The Warriors host the top-seeded Potter-Dix Coyotes at about 5:30 p.m.