Lady Lions advance to Regional Finals

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Will face No. 1 Dodd City

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CORSICANA- The Saltillo Lady Lions traveled to Corsicana Friday to face Iredell in the Regional Semifinals round of the playoffs. The Lady Lions, ranked No. 5 in the state, reached the Regional Semifinals by defeating Henrietta Midway, 46-33 in the Area round and Slidell, 46-35 in the Regional Quarterfinals round.

The game opened with a tight first quarter in which neither team was able to gain much of an advantage over the other. The Lady Lions had no problem finding their offense, scoring 17 points in the opening frame. Iredell was able to keep things close, but Saltillo took a 17-13 lead into the second quarter.

The offense slowed down a bit for Saltillo in the second quarter, having their lowest scoring frame of the night with just 11 points. Iredell matched their first quarter total with 13 points again, cutting into the lead by two points, as the two teams entered the locker room with Saltillo leading 28-26.

The second half is when the Lady Lions started to create some separation, coming out with a 16-point third quarter. The defense played a huge role as well, holding Iredell to just seven points in the third quarter as Saltillo took a double-digit lead into the final frame.

Saltillo didn’t slow up in the fourth quarter, outscoring Iredell by another five points as they cruised to a 58-42 win.

Anna Reeder was the leading scorer for the Lady Lions, finishing the game with a total of 18 points. Brittney Peeples and Chandler Bain each finished in double-digits as well, posting 11 points and 10 points respectively.

Other scorers for Saltillo were Kristina Wade with six points, Allie Lane and Paisley Kastner with four points, Julianna Giles with three points and Maddie Smith with two points.

“We did a good job in the second half, playing defense and running sets,” coach Bill Giles said.

The win advanced the Lady Lions to the Regional Finals to face No. 1 ranked Dodd City Tuesday. Coverage of that game will be published in Saturday’s edition of the News-Telegram.