Sports

Ladyjacks exact revenge on Jimmies

By Tyler Ohmann

12/11/2012

After more than a week since their last game the Dakota College at Bottineau women’s basketball team came out refreshed and dominated a Jamestown JV team that defeated them earlier in the season.

The 69-47 win by the Ladyjacks over the Jimmies at the Lane Johnson Classic in Bismarck avenged a 80-72 loss to the Jimmies on Nov. 9 at the Lake Region Classic.

“I thought we had an excellent first half and we were able to hold on in the second,” stated DCB head coach Wayne Johnson. “We had been beaten by the Jimmies earlier this season, so this was obviously a considerably better defensive effort. We did a much better job of playing the game the way we wanted it played.”

That effort included holding the Jimmies to only 23 percent shooting, including a dismal 5-for-31 three point shooting performance.

The Ladyjacks also out rebounded the Jimmies 56-39, which Johnson considered the best night on the glass all season.

“This may have been our best team rebounding effort of the season,” Johnson stated. “We didn’t shoot the ball from the three point line like we need to and had too many turnovers but other than that it was a very solid effort. We had a good team defensive effort with some excellent defensive recognition of actions and good help positioning.”

Offensively DCB was led by sophomores Jackie Miller and Shakira Walker, who had 23 and 20 points respectively. Miller also added 10 rebounds, which was tied for the team-lead with sophomore Megan Green, who also had eight points.

“Overall it was the type of team effort we need as we prepare for the second half of our season,” Johnson stated.

Despite similar efforts in a game at the classic on Saturday, the Ladyjacks were unable to upend a big Williston State squad in a 75-59 defeat.

The Ladyjacks had the game tied 29-29 late in the first half, but the Tetons went on a 9-0 run to close the half. After that DCB sunk further behind, but battled back to within 10 points with about six minutes left, but were unable to slow down the Tetons, who went on to beat the Ladyjacks for the first time this year.

“This was a very good effort by our Ladyjacks against a talented, huge, powerful Teton team,” Johnson stated. “Except for the final three minutes of the first half I thought be played very well.”

Walker and Miller again led the Ladyjacks as Walker had 21 to lead DCB and Miller had a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards.
Sophomores Josie Degagne and Jordyn Sondrol had strong games as well as Degagne had 10 points and dished out a team-best seven assists, while Sondrol had a team-high 14 rebounds and also added six points.

DCB sits at 4-7 heading into the semester break, and Johnson was pleased with the way the weekend went.

“Overall I was very pleased with the two games. I thought we made some strides toward becoming a more complete team,” Johnson stated. “We battled through some adversity both on the scoreboard in this game and through a key injury. I though we played with the will to become a better team and that’s a huge step in the right direction.”

The Ladyjacks next step on the court in on Jan. 4-5 for the MinDak Classic in Thief River Falls, Minn.