STERLING – Brooke Bailey gave the response one would expect of the No. 5 seed in a five-team regional Monday night after she led the Dixon Duchesses to a 51-45 win over the No. 4 Mendota Trojans. 

"We came into this knowing that we're the underdog," Bailey said. "We've been in that position all year with no one thinking that we can win. We'll embrace that underdog role because we know that we have nothing to lose entering this regional." 

The numbers say Bailey is right. The Duchesses, with an 11-17 record and a good decade of mediocrity behind them, have been the perennial underdogs at regionals.