DAYTON - Save for a case of the third-quarter blahs, the Dayton High girls' basketball team didn't look like a team that hadn't played a game in more than two weeks.
The Dust Devils, using a trapping full-court zone press, grabbed an early seven-point lead, and then went on a 14-2 run in the fourth quarter en route to a 56-42 win over Sparks in a Northern 3A game Tuesday night.
"It was a good game for us," said Dayton coach Cliff Serawop. "That kind of thing (the third quarter) happens to us. I was expecting it to happen in the second quarter.
"I knew the press was going to bother them. We played them earlier this year, and we couldn't press as much because we weren't in good enough shape, but it did bother them tonight."
The Railroaders turned the ball over 19 times in the first half, leading to 12 Dayton points and a 32-25 Dust Devil lead. Maribel Ledezma, Dayton's ball-hawking guard, had 11 of her team-high 19 points while teammate Cora Mebius had eight of her 16 in the first 16 minutes.
Dayton's lead easily could have been in double digits, but the Dust Devils missed many easy lay-ups after many of their steals.
Neither team played well in the third quarter, scoring a combined 13 points, turning the ball over nine teams and going a combined 5-for-17 from the field.
"Sparks switched to a zone and that threw us," Serawop said. "They were having trouble getting into the rotation (of where they were supposed to be)."
The Dust Devils caught fire in the fourth quarter. opening the final period with the aforementioned 14-2 run to take control of the contest, 52-34. Sparks went more than five minutes without a field goal.
Mebius and Ledezma combined for 10 of the 14 points in the critical span. Both of Ledezma's scores came after she stole the ball and converted. Mebius scored on a lay-up and follow shot. She was a force on the boards most of the night.
"Maribel has been a lot more consistent finishing her shots since the season started," Serawop said. "Cora has been coming along well since the season began. We need her to play well because we're not very big."