Lady Bulldogs continue summer winning streak
ROGERS — Coming off of a trio of wins during the Lady Highlander varsity team camp in Eureka Springs on July 11, the Decatur Lady Bulldog basketball team, under new head girls coach Cassidy Valenzuela and assistant coaches Austin Frederking and Mike Eckels, made the short trip to Rogers on Thursday to participate in yet another team camp.
Ozark Catholic Academy and Athletic Director Cody Vaught organized and hosted the annual team camp, which lasted four days and hosted 60 teams from around Arkansas and Missouri.
The Lady Bulldogs played two contests. Each contest consists of two 13-minute halves with a oneminute break.
Up first was JC Westside Lady Rebels. From the start, neither team was on its offensive game plan, with more rebounding than hitting the basket. By half-time, the score was only in single digits, with the Lady Bulldogs holding a slim two-point lead, 7-5.
It was more of the same in the second half, with Decatur adding only six points to its first-half lead while JC Westside added only four. The final score was 13-9 in favor of Decatur.
Leading the scoring was Sunshine Thor with five, followed by California Herrington and Daisy Fuentes, each with four.
In the second and what proved to be the final game of the camp, the Lady Bulldogs faced the host team, the OCA Lady Griffins.
The Lady Bulldogs finally hit their stride under the leadership of Fuentes, and Shylee Morales and California Herrington made good defensive plays. At the end of the first half, the Lady Bulldogs held the Lady Griffins scoreless while building a 15-point lead.
The game ended with the Lady Bulldogs defeating the OCA Lady Griffins, 27-9, adding two more wins to the three at Eureka Springs.
Fuentes led the Lady Bulldogs with 14, followed by Leslie Hernandez with 5, California Herrington and Ruby Frye with 4, and Sunshine Thor with 2.
By the end of the four-day event, Ozark Catholic Academy had hosted just over 150 contests, making this event a huge success.