Sports

Stars, Sioux opening at shootout

By Bottineau Courant Staff

12/11/2012

Both the Bottineau and Westhope-Newburg girls basketball teams will kick off their respective seasons beginning on Friday at the annual Shootout on the Prairie in Minot.

Staying Stars

For Bottineau it will be the first time in a long time that head coach Mike Forsberg won’t be roaming the bench, since he retired after last season.

Instead, newly hired head coach Joe Bender will be there as the Stars open their season at 4:30 p.m. on Friday against Dickinson Trinity.

The Stars follow up that game with a 4:30 p.m. game Saturday against Thompson.

In 2011-12 the Stars finished with a 12-11 overall record and were eliminated from the region tournament after a loss to top-ranked Bishop Ryan.

The Stars had finished fourth in the District 11 tournament last season.

Bottineau returns several players with experience from last years squad including seniors Katryna Hahn, McKenzie Jensen and Whitney Brandvold, juniors Danielle McDonald, Courtney Gallagher, Rachael Fix and sophomore Stephanie Brenden.

Others for the Stars who will be looked on for time will likely be Kennedy Olson, Megan Saville and Maria Diepolder.

The Stars will miss seniors from 2011-12 in Heidi Artz, Whitney Page and Trista Bjerk. Artz and Page were on the All-District team last season.
Sioux still standing

After exiting the District 11 tournament via the hands of the Bottineau Stars the Sioux hope to improve in 2012-13.

The Sioux finished with an 8-15 record last season.
They open this season at 2:45 p.m. on Friday with a contest against Midway-Minto at the Shootout on the Prairie.

On Saturday the Sioux will continue the opening weekend tournament in Minot with another 2:45 p.m. contest, this time against Fordville-Lankin-Park River.

Westhope-Newburg will likely be led by seniors this season as they likely return experienced seniors in Hadlee Schell, Jade Teske, Bailey Tofteland and Becca Christensen. Other returners with varsity experience include sophomores Lauren Mach, Molly Lodoen and Amber Hall.

Other contributors will include: Ashlyn Huber, Maddy Lodoen, Lakyn Ballantyne and Morgan Kersten.

The Sioux lose 2011-12 senior starters Kylee Conway and contributor Kristin Arneson.