Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Taelor Lessmeier of Fort Dodge drives to the basket in the Dodger gym earlier this season.

URBANDALE — The Fort Dodge girls basketball squad couldn’t recover from their early struggles here on Friday, falling to Urbandale by a final of 68-50.

The Dodgers (4-14 overall) trailed 27-4 at the end of the first quarter and 42-17 at halftime. They out-scored the J-Hawks 33-26 the rest of the way, but it was too little, too late as Urbandale (9-10) won for the fourth time in six games.

”We started very slow,” FDSH head coach Julius Michalik said. ”We didn’t match their intensity (on the J-Hawks’ senior night), which produced many mental errors.

”We improved our play in the second half, but it didn’t have any effect on the final outcome.”

Senior Shareece Smith led the Dodgers with 17 points, while classmate Taelor Lessmeier added 12. Sophomore Maya Gyamfi had a game-high 19 points for Urbandale.

Fort Dodge welcomes Waterloo West (9-10) to the Dodger gym for a 6:30 p.m. varsity tip on Saturday.

URBANDALE 68,

FORT DODGE 50

Urbandale — Maya Gyamfi 19, Sierra Herzberg 14, Mylea Cole 10, April Czarnecki 12, DeeDee Pryor 6, Kati Heller 4, Abby Burk 2, Faith Putz 1.

Fort Dodge — Shareece Smith 17, Taelor Lessmeier 12, Liza Van Zyl 6, Raeya Love 5, Beth Murman 3, Ebonee Altman 3, Kylee Davis 2, Olivia Camamo 1, Morgan Beisch 1.

Quarter scores: Urbandale led 27-4, 42-17, 60-32.