The Herald-News - News Story

The first time the Dayton City School Sweatbees played Jasper Middle School, the game went to double overtime.

Monday night's rematch was a different story, however, as the hometown Bees defeated Jasper's Warriors 44-37.

Dayton City sprinted to a 14-2 first-half lead, but the Warriors steadily chipped away at their deficit.

With less than two minutes remaining, DCS Head Coach Lynn Lane launched a mass substitution to talk with his first string. With the starters on the bench and 50 seconds remaining in the first half, however, Jasper knotted things up at 16-all.

The Sweatbees held a precarious 18-16 lead at halftime, and Jasper actually jumped ahead 19-18 with a three-pointer to start the third.

That was the last time Dayton City relinquished the lead, though. The Sweatbees hit the boards hard in the second half, and Brian Harrison and Jared Opperman stepped up on offense to keep their team afloat.

Harrison finished the night with 15 points, but it was Opperman's clutch free throw shooting in the fourth that helped put the game away. The eighth-grader, who tallied 13 points on the night, drained five of six foul shots to put the game out of reach.

Dimitrius Patterson added 10 points and a number of steals to the Bees effort.

The Lady Sweatbees showed a marked improvement since the beginning of the season, but fell to Jasper 23-14.

"At the half we were in it 14-8, but we ran out of steam," Head Coach Kristy Hurst said.
"There's a big difference from the team I started with to the team that played tonight. I'm very proud of them. They have improved on everything, from press break to moving the ball around to working as a team."

Lexi Bowman and Jessee Wallis each had four points for Dayton City, while Kenzie Freeman, J'Ray Pankey and Christy Lee each tacked on a bucket.

Dayton City is slated to host Rhea Central Elementary on Wednesday at 4 and 5 p.m.

Cathy Barnes can be contacted at cathy.barnes@rheaheraldnews.com.