Loris girls earn elusive win over Dillon, surge to top of Region VI-3A

Either you make history, or be history.

For the better part of three decades, the Loris girls basketball team found itself a footnote to Dillon’s story. In fact, Lions head coach Douglas Gause could not recall the last time the program had gotten the best of the rival Wildcats.

“I couldn’t tell you … maybe 20, 30 years ago,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”

Since the beginning of preseason drills, he emphasized to his players that “it was their time.”

With an undefeated region VI-3A record coming into Friday’s tilt with its longtime nemesis, the team had apparently bought into what Gause was selling. After putting an end to the dubious losing skid against Dillon, maybe the rest of the region should be on notice now as well.

Loris made quite the statement, defending its home court and remaining without a blemish in league play, downing the Wildcats 50-41.

“I thank (God) for putting me in a time and position such as this to be a blessing in these kids’ lives, and them be a blessing in mine as well,” Gause said. “… They’ve bought into a new system, we’re more aggressive on defense. And they’re starting to see the hand work pay off for us.”

Down 29-25 at the break, the Lions allowed that pent-up aggression to flow freely, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. As a result, they were able to turn a 4-point deficit into a 34-33 lead by the end of the third period.

More importantly, Loris put the clamps on Dillon standout Khamele Manning. Filling the bucket to the tune of 18 points in the first half, she was held scoreless during the game’s final 16 minutes.

“Defense is a focus of ours, defense comes first,” Gause said. “Offense always comes, but if you play defense you’re going to be all right. Like I always say, ‘Defense wins championships.’ And now, they’re starting to see when you put that defensive effort forth you’re going to be successful all the time.”

Recently returning to the Lions starting lineup after being sidelined due to injury, Neaundra Gause kept her team afloat in the first half, scoring 12 points. Her teammates would eventually join her in the second, particularly Iklea Green, whose ability to dribble, drive and dish caused Dillon a host of problems down the stretch.

Both wound up in double figures, with Gause scoring 18 while Green finished with 11.

“We work hard in practice and showed out tonight,” Green said. “It felt good, like it was meant to be. We work hard for everything we get. For everyone who doubted us, this was for them.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Loris girls earn elusive win over Dillon, surge to top of Region VI-3A."