OAKESDALE–The shorthanded Dayton-Waitsburg Lady Wolfpack basketball team struggled in its first two games of the 2022-23 season, falling to White Swan in the season opener at White Swan on December 2, and to the Lady Nighthawks at Oakesdale on December 3.

Last weekend’s home games were to be against Goldendale and Granger, but were canceled due to winter road conditions. The non-league games will not be rescheduled.

DW visited TriCities Prep for the first conference game of the season earlier this week, then will hit the road to Cowiche to play Highland on Monday, December 19. The Naselle Lady Comets will visit Dayton-Waitsburg Tuesday, December 20, for a non-league matchup before breaking for the Christmas holiday.

Between Christmas and New Year’s Day, the Lady Wolfpack will travel to Pomeroy for a non-conference game on December 29. The game had been scheduled to be played at home, but maintenance on the Dayton gym’s heating system will be performed over the Christmas break, so the game was switched to Pomeroy, with the Pirates reciprocating by visiting Dayton on January 17.

The Lady Wolfpack started with a 63-25 loss at White Swan and a difficult 56-10 loss at Oakesdale.

“We didn’t have a lot of positives at this point,” commented Head Coach Dirk Hansen, following the opening-weekend losses, “due to injuries and flu.

“We have yet to be competitive,” Hansen added, “but we may be okay if we can get healthier and better.”

At White Swan, Claudia Benavides led the team with 17 points with Peyton Benavides making 4, and Kamryn Tupling and Teagen Culley scoring two.

Against Oakesdale, Tupling led with four points, Alyssa Hollingsworth made three, Peyton Benavides two and Hannah Peralez one point.