Kaylee Wilkins summed it up best.
“Sweet revenge. It’s just awesome,” Wilkins, a Dale High School senior, said just moments after she and her fellow Lady Pirates smothered defending champion Pawnee for the Class 2A basketball title Saturday at State Fair Arena.
“It feels amazing” to get a little payback, Wilkins added.
Pawnee cut Dale out of the running for the gold ball two years straight, but couldn’t stand in the way a third time. Wilkins opened Saturday’s game with a 3-point field goal, setting the tone for an eventual 59-44 win.
The Lady Pirates never trailed.
“We’ve been working so hard to get back to this point, and our dream came true,” said Dale senior Brenna Burnett, daughter of head coach Benny Burnett.
“It feels pretty good,” she said.
Brenna has spent years under her father’s guidance, and her own personal dream was to bring home a gold ball for him.
“Since the second grade, I’ve been playing for my dad. This has been a dream of mine. It finally came true,” Brenna said while holding the championship trophy.
This is Dale’s seventh girls’ state title, and the first for Burnett as coach of the Lady Pirates. Dale brought home its first gold ball in 1978, and its most recent in 1991.
“There is a legacy there,” Burnett said. “We didn’t create the monster, but we’ve got to feed it. That’s part of being a Lady Pirate.”
Saturday’s feeding of the monster paid off in spades, as there was none more satisfying a time to best Pawnee. The Lady Black Bears knocked Dale out of title contention in the 2008 quarterfinals, and again in the 2009 semifinals.
Dale lost in overtime to Pawnee in this year’s area tournament.
All along, Burnett felt a reckoning was on its way, and that his Lady Pirates could finally rinse out that bitter taste with their very own redeeming moment.
“More than just playing for the gold ball, we wanted another shot at Pawnee,” Burnett said. “All year long, we wanted a shot at them.”
After Wilkins opened with the first of her game-high four treys Saturday, Brenna sank both halves of a two-shot trip to the foul line to give Dale a 5-0 lead with 6:32 left in the first quarter. The Lady Pirates ended the quarter with a 14-8 advantage, thanks in part to five points from Linlee Blevins.
Blevins, a senior, led all scorers with 21 and had a trio of treys to go along with a 10-of-14 outing at the charity stripe. Wilkins and Brenna were the only other players to reach double figures — Wilkins with 15 and Brenna with a dozen.
Back-to-back 3-pointers, from Wilkins and Blevins, put Dale ahead 20-8 early in the second quarter, and what eventually became a 9-0 run put the Lady Pirates ahead by 15 points at the 5:16 mark. Pawnee, however, would not go down quietly.
The Lady Black Bears chipped and scraped at Dale’s lead in the waning minutes of the first half, and used their very own 9-0 surge to cut the advantage to five (25-20) by intermission.
Britney Morgan’s shot from outside the arc 13 seconds into the third quarter put Pawnee dangerously close at 25-23, and the Lady Black Bears spent the better part of the frame chewing on the Lady Pirates’ heels.
Wilkins gave her team a little breathing room with her fourth and final bomb, and another rainmaker from Blevins — at the buzzer — allowed Dale to enter the final eight minutes with a 39-30 cushion.
That’s when the gas hit the flame.
The Lady Black Bears upped their defensive pressure, and with that came the fouls. The Lady Pirates scored 14 of their 20 fourth-quarter points via free throws, and Blevins was the ultimate benefactor at 7-of-8.
Wilkins hit three of her four charities, and Katherine Weatherby and Brette Throckmorton each went 2-of-2. All total, Dale was 23-of-30 (76.7 percent) from the stripe. The Lady Black were 7-of-9 on the day.
When the dust had settled, Morgan had fouled out and Dale had outscored Pawnee 20-14 in the fourth quarter. On three occasions, the Lady Pirates held their largest lead of the game at 18 points.
Morgan and Christina Pratt scored nine points apiece for Pawnee, while Shelby Turner and Jayda Gardner added eight and seven, respectively. Pratt had three of the Lady Black Bears’ seven 3-point shots.
For Dale, Weatherby finished with one trey and five points, and Kendra Steward netted four points. At the end of their basketball careers for Dale are Brenna, Blevins, Wilkins, Weatherby, Steward and Throckmorton.
Burnett said he is sad to see his seniors go, but he is glad they were able to finish their high school careers on a high note.
“This is as far as they can go, and I’m real, real proud of them,” he said.
Some Lady Pirates have plans to go on to collegiate careers, including Brenna, who will play for Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida. Wilkins has had several offers, but will take some time to think them over, she said.
Plaing for Pawnee for the last time were Morgan, Pratt, Turner, Gardner, Kaytlyn Rice, Monica Southern, Stephanie Sewell and Clarissa Perry. The Lady Black Bears end the season at 22-6.
Dale ends the season at 27-4.
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Kaylee Wilkins summed it up best.
“Sweet revenge. It’s just awesome,” Wilkins, a Dale High School senior, said just moments after she and her fellow Lady Pirates smothered defending champion Pawnee for the Class 2A basketball title Saturday at State Fair Arena.
“It feels amazing” to get a little payback, Wilkins added.
Pawnee cut Dale out of the running for the gold ball two years straight, but couldn’t stand in the way a third time. Wilkins opened Saturday’s game with a 3-point field goal, setting the tone for an eventual 59-44 win.
The Lady Pirates never trailed.
“We’ve been working so hard to get back to this point, and our dream came true,” said Dale senior Brenna Burnett, daughter of head coach Benny Burnett.
“It feels pretty good,” she said.
Brenna has spent years under her father’s guidance, and her own personal dream was to bring home a gold ball for him.
“Since the second grade, I’ve been playing for my dad. This has been a dream of mine. It finally came true,” Brenna said while holding the championship trophy.
This is Dale’s seventh girls’ state title, and the first for Burnett as coach of the Lady Pirates. Dale brought home its first gold ball in 1978, and its most recent in 1991.
“There is a legacy there,” Burnett said. “We didn’t create the monster, but we’ve got to feed it. That’s part of being a Lady Pirate.”
Saturday’s feeding of the monster paid off in spades, as there was none more satisfying a time to best Pawnee. The Lady Black Bears knocked Dale out of title contention in the 2008 quarterfinals, and again in the 2009 semifinals.
Dale lost in overtime to Pawnee in this year’s area tournament.
All along, Burnett felt a reckoning was on its way, and that his Lady Pirates could finally rinse out that bitter taste with their very own redeeming moment.
“More than just playing for the gold ball, we wanted another shot at Pawnee,” Burnett said. “All year long, we wanted a shot at them.”
After Wilkins opened with the first of her game-high four treys Saturday, Brenna sank both halves of a two-shot trip to the foul line to give Dale a 5-0 lead with 6:32 left in the first quarter. The Lady Pirates ended the quarter with a 14-8 advantage, thanks in part to five points from Linlee Blevins.
Blevins, a senior, led all scorers with 21 and had a trio of treys to go along with a 10-of-14 outing at the charity stripe. Wilkins and Brenna were the only other players to reach double figures — Wilkins with 15 and Brenna with a dozen.
Back-to-back 3-pointers, from Wilkins and Blevins, put Dale ahead 20-8 early in the second quarter, and what eventually became a 9-0 run put the Lady Pirates ahead by 15 points at the 5:16 mark. Pawnee, however, would not go down quietly.
The Lady Black Bears chipped and scraped at Dale’s lead in the waning minutes of the first half, and used their very own 9-0 surge to cut the advantage to five (25-20) by intermission.
Britney Morgan’s shot from outside the arc 13 seconds into the third quarter put Pawnee dangerously close at 25-23, and the Lady Black Bears spent the better part of the frame chewing on the Lady Pirates’ heels.
Wilkins gave her team a little breathing room with her fourth and final bomb, and another rainmaker from Blevins — at the buzzer — allowed Dale to enter the final eight minutes with a 39-30 cushion.
That’s when the gas hit the flame.
The Lady Black Bears upped their defensive pressure, and with that came the fouls. The Lady Pirates scored 14 of their 20 fourth-quarter points via free throws, and Blevins was the ultimate benefactor at 7-of-8.
Wilkins hit three of her four charities, and Katherine Weatherby and Brette Throckmorton each went 2-of-2. All total, Dale was 23-of-30 (76.7 percent) from the stripe. The Lady Black were 7-of-9 on the day.
When the dust had settled, Morgan had fouled out and Dale had outscored Pawnee 20-14 in the fourth quarter. On three occasions, the Lady Pirates held their largest lead of the game at 18 points.
Morgan and Christina Pratt scored nine points apiece for Pawnee, while Shelby Turner and Jayda Gardner added eight and seven, respectively. Pratt had three of the Lady Black Bears’ seven 3-point shots.
For Dale, Weatherby finished with one trey and five points, and Kendra Steward netted four points. At the end of their basketball careers for Dale are Brenna, Blevins, Wilkins, Weatherby, Steward and Throckmorton.
Burnett said he is sad to see his seniors go, but he is glad they were able to finish their high school careers on a high note.
“This is as far as they can go, and I’m real, real proud of them,” he said.
Some Lady Pirates have plans to go on to collegiate careers, including Brenna, who will play for Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida. Wilkins has had several offers, but will take some time to think them over, she said.
Plaing for Pawnee for the last time were Morgan, Pratt, Turner, Gardner, Kaytlyn Rice, Monica Southern, Stephanie Sewell and Clarissa Perry. The Lady Black Bears end the season at 22-6.
Dale ends the season at 27-4.
