Duchesses succumb to Pirates’ box-and-one zone at Lancaster Gym

The Dixon Duchesses were unable to make the Ottawa coach's Pirates pay for playing a box-and-one zone in a 47-26 Northern Illinois Big 12 West loss.

"We were rolling the dice," Cooper said. "We were ready to play man most of the night. They just never really hit any shots, so they didn't force us to go man."

Ottawa (20-5, 8-1) junior Cassidy Rice nearly outscored Dixon (10-15, 4-5) singlehandedly with 24 points. Her fellow guards – most notably Lindsey Greene – held the area's leading scorer, Brooke Bailey (18.7 ppg.), to just five points on 1-for-13 shooting.

Early on, despite two Pirates picking her up at the timeline, Bailey was able to set up her teammates. But they missed open jumpers and bunnies as Ottawa built a 27-7 halftime lead.

The Duchesses shot 11-for-43, including 6-for-23 in the paint.

"That's not gonna win many games," Dixon coach Luke Ravlin said. "You can't ask for better shots than some of what we got in that game."

Meanwhile, the Pirates ran screens galore to trigger wide-open looks. They shot 5-for-10 from beyond the arc.

"Credit to Cooper and his girls for running good stuff and making shots," Ravlin said.

Jasmine Bailey (15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists) used a screen to hit a 3 from the left wing off a Jaleesa Kindred (6 points, 11 rebounds) assist. Kari Wolfe dribbled the ball off her foot and out of bounds on the other end, and Bailey stuck another triple seconds later, making it 27-7 with 2 minutes left in the half.

Then Taylor Colby missed a bunny. Moments later, Kacie Dillow came up with a steal and set up a Bailey runout but, perhaps excited about her rare freedom, the junior point guard carried the ball.

Early in the third, Bailey provided one of the few Dixon highlights, converting a four-point play to make it 30-12, thanks to a Colby screen at the top of the key. She picked Greene, and Bailey drilled the 3 from the left wing before contact by Mady Toynton sent her to the deck.