BAYTOWN — It is hard to win when a team turns the ball over 27 times and gives up 17 offensive rebounds.

That was the dilemma the Port Arthur Memorial Lady Titans found themselves in Tuesday against the Pearland Dawson Lady Eagles.

The Lady Eagles took advantage of the Lady Titans’ miscues and won the Class 6A Region III bi-district playoff 35-32.

Dawson (19-9) was certainly not pretty on the offensive end and needed the extra shots. The Lady Eagles were 9 of 40 from the field but took 31 free throws in the game. Dawson made 17 from the charity stripe compared to Memorial (18-13) going 5 of 13 from the free throw line.

“Early on we were outhustling them but we were getting outrebounded,” Memorial coach Kevin Henry said. “We knew going in that they are not a first-opportunity scoring team. They get their points off second, third and fourth chances. They do a great job of rebounding. We knew we were going to have to do our part and get down there and block out. We didn’t do that throughout the game. That was a big thing in the first half to help them stay close.”

Dawson tied the game midway through the first at 5-5 but then Memorial used an 8-0 run to close out the quarter to take a 13-5 lead into the second.

Autumn Jones (12 points) had four points during the run for the Lady Titans.

Then they went cold. Ice cold.

Memorial went 1 of 8 from the field in the second period and only scored off a basket from Kennedi Lofton and a free throw from Jones. The Lady Eagles took advantage of the cold shooting Lady Titans and took a 16-14 lead into the break.

“In the second half, we couldn’t find the bucket,” Henry said. “We couldn’t score from the start of the second quarter. It was hard for us to manage points. We were complacent and were passing too much instead of attacking the zone. That is the way you beat a zone. You attack the gaps and open things up for your teammates. We didn’t do a good job of it tonight.”

Joyce came through several times for the Lady Titans in the fourth quarter, and she finished with 11 points. She hit a three-point early in the fourth to pull Memorial into a 29-29 tie.

Then, with under a minute to play, Joyce took another three-point attempt with the Lady Titans down 34-29. She didn’t make the shot but was fouled and hit all three free throws. Maddie Powers only made one free throw to push the Lady Eagles’ lead to 35-32.

The last Memorial shot came from inside the three-point line and was no good to seal the Dawson victory.

Jaden Rogers led the Lady Eagles with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Powers added nine and Elizabeth Davis finished with seven points.

Memorial loses six seniors to graduation.