Sanford girls pick up third in row STAFF REPORT

SANFORD — It was a meeting of two Southern Peaks teams in Sanford on Saturday. Sanford (8-3) defeated Sargent (4-8) handily 54-33.
Prior to this weekend Sargent just had their two game winning streak snapped by Bayfield.
Then on Friday night the Farmers faced powerhouse Del Norte and fell 42-24.
Sanford on the other hand had just picked up two in a row. Neither team got going rather quickly Saturday night as with under three minutes remaining in the first quarter Sanford sported a 4-2 lead.
With five points from Asia Caldon in the first quarter Sanford would take a 10-5 lead at the end of one.
Caldon would keep up her work with 6 more points in the second quarter totaling 11 of Sanford’s 20 points up to that juncture. Caldon would finish her night tied for the team lead in scoring with 17 points.
Sargent nearly doubled production in the second quarter thanks to a three-pointer from Lexxi Aguilar and two buckets from the field for Lainie Dillon. Sanford owned a 20-14 lead heading to the locker rooms.
Propelled by Mackenzie Peterson, Sanford returned from the break with their foot on the gas posting 10 unanswered points.
A breakout quarter from Peterson saw the junior post 9 points. Peterson ended the night tied for the team lead with Caldon each with 17 points.
The final chapter opened with Sanford leading 33-22. Seven visits to the charity stripe for Sanford in the fourth quarter produced a free throw percentage of 85 percent and 12 points for the home team.
Twenty one points totaled the most productive quarter of the game for Sanford as they finished Sargent off 42-24.
Sargent will continue their road trip with a league-weighted game next Friday against Center (4-8) slated for a 4 p.m. start. Sargent won’t return home until February 9th when they host Swink (10-1).
Sanford will go on the road to attempt to extend their streak to four games against Custer County (3-8) on Friday before testing their fate against Del Norte (11-0) on Saturday.