The Carbon Lady Dinos lost for the first time in Region 12 action, falling to 61-44 to the Richfield Wildcats on the road Tuesday night.

Entering the pivotal matchup unbeaten in league play at 2-0, the Lady Dinos struggled to find consistency on the offensive side of the ball. The Wildcats managed to outscore Carbon in each of the four quarters, leading to the 17-point win.

“They came after us and we didn’t quite respond the way I hoped we would,” said head coach Ted Bianco. “We had stretches and moments where we did good things, but we just couldn’t finish when we needed to.”

Lindsey Blanc and Kelsey Sorenson both logged a team-high 10 points for the Lady Dinos. Cyene Bigelow finished with seven, while Chandelle Nichols and Taylor Passarella ended with four.

Holding a 29-18 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats managed to expand on their advantage with an 18-14 run in the third quarter. Despite miniature runs, the Lady Dinos were unable to chip into the lead late.

Shandi Bastian poured in a game-high 24-points to go along with eight rebounds as Richfield won for the ninth time in 11 games. Madisyn Daniels chipped in with 14 points and eight boards, while Emma Jones contributed 12 points.

Tuesday’s loss ended a four game winning streak for the Lady Dinos, and marks just their third setback of the season. Even though the team is a game back of first place in the division, Bianco believes the loss could help his team in the future.

“A loss makes you take a second look at yourself and what you are doing,” said Bianco. “That’s something that you can use as motivation and get yourself going for future games.”

The Lady Dinos will have little time to correct the mistakes in the loss, as they’ll return to the court on Thursday at home against the Juab Wasps. As it stands right now, the winner of the game will have a clear path to soul possession of second place in the division.