Sports
Ladyjacks split in two-game week
Matthew Semisch
02/17/2015
The Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) women’s basketball team took one big step forward and then a relatively small one back last week.
The Ladyjacks picked up their 20th win of the season - for only the second time in program history - on Wednesday. An 84-64 victory over Mon-Dak conference rival Dawson Community College in Bottineau allowed NJCAA Division II DCB to reach that plateau while knocking off a Division I opponent.
“That’s a big win for us, and not least because it’s No. 20,” Ladyjacks head coach Wayne Johnson said after Wednesday’s game. “It’s the second time in our program’s history that we’ve reached 20 wins, and that’s huge for us.”
DCB looked especially comfortable in the game’s first half. The Ladyjacks took control of the game almost immediately, developed a 28-8 lead early in the first half and went back to their locker room at halftime with a 49-30 lead in tow.
Dawson recovered well in the second half and was only outscored by the Ladyjacks 35-34 over the game’s final 20 minutes. In the end, though, DCB’s early dominance and an ability to fend Dawson off when needed late made the difference.
“I thought we started off really well and I thought we kind of put our foot off the throttle a little bit and that concerned me,” Johnson said, “but we woke up a little bit after that.”
Chelsea Frazier led DCB with a game-high 32 points. Imani Scott, the NJCAA’s Division II national player of the week last week - the first-ever Ladyjack to receive that award - was close behind with 25.
DCB wasn’t quite as fortunate on Sunday when it visited Moorhead, Minn., to take on Concordia. It was there that the Ladyjacks fell to the Lady Cobbers 84-69.
The Ladyjacks (20-8) visited Mon-Dak rival North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) on Monday after press time. DCB will host Lake Region State on Thursday at 6 p.m.