Dutchtown was late to the floor for pre-game warmups, late to turn its lineup in — resulting in a technical foul before tipoff — and late to assert itself in Tuesday night’s War Eagle Classic game at South Forsyth.

In fact, the Lady Bulldogs never really woke up. Dutchtown led once, at 2-1 in the first quarter, but South Forsyth’s suffocating defense and efficient offense helped the Lady War Eagles run away with a 68-40 win.

Sarah Myers led the Lady War Eagles with 23 points, Emily Dreslinski added 15 and Ally Welch tallied nine points and a team-high seven rebounds. All three sat out much of the fourth quarter.

“We came out with some great energy on defense from the first minute,” South coach Keith Gravitt said. “That’s where it all starts for us.”

The rout was on early. Myers hit one free throw before tipoff for the technical foul and Dutchtown called timeout after going down 10-2.

Gravitt said he wasn’t sure how the Lady War Eagles’ up-and-down style would translate against a Dutchtown team with two imposing post players in Kamera Harris (11 points), who averaged 7.5 blocked shots per game last season, and Tiara Scott (14 points).

“We watched them play in their first game and that team played a lot of zone against them, which is a very different game than we try to play,” Gravitt said. “We want to turn it into a full-court game as much as we can.”

Dutchtown committed seven turnovers in the first quarter, 13 in the first half and 26 overall.

South’s pressure wore down the Lady Bulldogs, who scored six points in the third quarter and turned the ball over 10 times in that eight-minute span.

“That’s the game within the game we look at as coaches,” Gravitt said. “We’re always trying to win the third quarter. That’s when we really turned it on tonight.”

Gravitt got a balanced effort across the board. Myers had five assists, four rebounds and four steals to go with her 23 points. Dreslinski chipped in with four rebounds and four assists, and Welch added three steals.

Even with its starters resting in the fourth quarter (and Dutchtown’s starters still in), Caroline Diem (seven points) and Dreslinski held their own.

“The great thing about our team is it’s going to be somebody different every night,” Gravitt said. “Hopefully the ball keeps bouncing our way.”