Lady Dogs to face Weimar in next round

The No. 8 Thorndale Lady Dogs (26-5) started their playoff run with a win over Iola on Monday night at Giddings High School.

The Lady Dogs’ next test will be Thursday against Weimar at 7:30 p.m. in Giddings. Weimar is the runner up in District 28-2A and defeated Harper in its first round contest on Tuesday night.

“I’m excited about playing Weimar and feel good about the way we are playing,” longtime Lady Dogs’ coach Bradley Dickerson said.  Monday’s win was the 453rd victory of his career.

In Monday’s win over Iola, Thorndale came out a little slow, but managed a 9-6 lead after the first quarter.  The Lady Dogs then broke the game open with 17 points in the second quarter, heading into halftime with a 26-17 lead.

Thorndale, 25-2A champion, came out on fire in the second half.  They put the game away by outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 31-11 in the final two quarters.

Iola fourth place team form 26-2A

Coach Dickerson was happy with the overall team performance in the bi-district game.

“We had some kids step up and score when we needed it.  The girls played very had and made a lot of things happen defensively, especially in the second half.”

Kylie Buchanan, who recently signed to play college basketball at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, led Thorndale with 17 points on the night.

Caitlin Garcia put up 13 points, with Madi Smith adding nine and Devin Dickerson eight.  Jordyne Bigan scored two points and Cheyenne Winkler recorded one.