Sports

Stars improve, but still searching for first win

By Tyler Ohmann

01/02/2013

Despite holding Watford City to a season-low 64 points, the Bottineau Stars basketball team fell for the third straight time last Saturday.

The Stars fell behind early, but got within six in the third quarter before a Watford City run wound up in a 64-47 Bottineau loss.

“The biggest is thing is transition,” said first-year Stars head coach Joe Bender. “It’s a different coach, a different offense and we have really young girls, and they’re making young girl mistakes.”

The Stars did commit 21 turnovers, a part of those mistakes, but the number was an improvement from the 39 and 27 the Stars committed in their prior two losses.

“They have tried hard, and they are getting better,” Bender said. “The more we play, the better we’ll get.”

Katie Mogen led Watford City and all scorers with 22 points in the game. Bottineau was led by sophomore Stephanie Brenden, who had 11 points. Seniors Katryna Hahn and Mckenzie Jensen each added eight for the Stars in the loss.

Bottineau has played three tough teams to start the season, which is only part of their schedule, one of the toughest in the state.

“We have the fourth toughest schedule in the state, but that’s good. It’s good to play better teams in the long run,” Bender said. “It strengthens us.”

Depth was no problem for the Stars, who had 10 players score in the game.

“We are so deep. We have a lot of girls that can play a lot of different positions,” Bender said.

The defense has been a strength for the Stars this season, who are still searching for the offense to lead them to their first win.

“One good thing is that we’ve held all of our opponents to their lowest total of the season,” Bender said. “So, the bright side is that we’ve played well defensively.”

Bottineau will play next in their home opener at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday as they host St. John. The Stars will remain home on Saturday, with a 4 p.m. tilt against New Town.