Sports

Dakota College at Bottineau women win three of four during busy week on the court

By Tyler Ohmann

01/29/2013

A busy week for the Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) Ladyjacks basketball team ended with three strong wins and one tough loss.

The Ladyjacks were able to blow past Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC) on Wednesday night, as well as two strong wins against Canadian Mennonite University (CMU). However, last Monday, DCB was thwarted at home against North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS).

First on Monday the Ladyjacks hosted a talented NDSCS squad and couldn’t quite keep up in a tough 70-58 loss.

“I was very proud of the effort our ladies put forth tonight,” stated Ladyjacks head coach Wayne Johnson. “We played hard enough to get the win but unfortunately the scoreboard didn’t agree.”

Without a top scoring threat, and point guard Shakira Walker, the Ladyjacks turned to sophomore Jackie Miller, who put up a strong performance in the loss.

DCB trailed 36-27 at halftime, but kept battling. Miller finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, all team-bests.

Jordyn Sondrol added 11 rebounds, and Megan Green had nine points in the narrow loss.

Johnson stated the Ladyjacks accomplished several goals in the loss, including: keeping turnovers under 20 (17), keeping the Wildcats under 40 percent shooting (they shot 38 percent).

They did miss one goal according to Johnson, which was to tame the Wildcats from the three-point line. NDSCS finished at 9-of-20 (45 percent), while the Ladyjacks shot 8-of-29 (28 percent) from beyond the arc.

“Other than their three point success, I thought we did a good job defensively,” Johnson stated. “We all worked hard and contributed defensively.”

The Ladyjacks kept up their strong play as they rebounded on Wednesday night in Belcourt as they beat TMCC 72-55.

“It was good to get back in the winning column,” Johnson stated. “I didn’t think we played with the same intensity as we did versus NDSCS but we played just well enough to hold off the Mickinocks.”

Sophomore Josie Degagne stepped up for DCB, scoring 26 points as the Ladyjacks had a 37-27 lead by halftime.

“We played well enough defensively holding them to 31 percent shooting and only four three pointers,” Johnson stated. “I was most pleased with our work on the boards. I thought that was the most significant factor in the game.”

DCB out rebounded the Mickinocks 50-35. Leaders in rebounding included: Sondrol (11), Leah Parizek (11) and Miller (eight). Miller also added 25 points to the scoring effort in the win.

However, offensively, Johnson stated that there was a lot of room to improve.

“Even though we shot a solid percentage, I was disappointed in our offensive execution,” Johnson stated. “I thought we were sloppy with our passing and our cuts.”

DCB cleaned up those mistakes with two very sold wins in Canada against CMU over the weekend.
First on Friday evening the Ladyjacks used a strong defensive effort, forcing 36 turnovers, while committing only 13 to breeze past the Blazers 85-55.

Again Degagne helped the Ladyjacks out early scoring their first 16 points in route to a 16-2 lead. They led 49-23 at halftime.

“We jumped out, and Josie got off to a great start in this game,” Johnson stated. “I thought we played really well offensively, especially in the first half.”

Also pacing the DCB scoring was Parizek with 16 points. Freshman Tiffany Bradford added 10 points to the effort as well. Sondrol and Miller were again tops in the rebounding department with nine apiece.

DCB closed out their strong weekend in Canada with a 72-33 win over CMU on Saturday.

“It was good to pick up two wins on the weekend,” Johnson stated. “We certainly were two different teams however.”

The Ladyjacks struggled to a 29-21 lead at halftime, but turned up the jets in the second half, out scoring the Blazers 43-12 in the second half.
Johnson stated that the two halves were completely opposite.

“Our offensive game in the first half left a whole lot to be desired as we seemed to be struck by the ‘ugly stick,’” Johnson stated. “We forced too many tough shots and did a poor job of executing anything offensively. To the ladies credit, we regrouped at half time and put together a very nice second half.”

The scoring was balanced for the Ladyjacks as they had four players in double figures. Degagne and Miller led the scorers with 18 points each, while Sondrol netted 14 points and Dominique State added 11 points.

Sondrol had 11 rebounds to lead a 54-48 advantage on the boards for DCB in the big win.

DCB has a couple big region games in the upcoming week, which they hope can go their way.

“We play United Tribes at home on Monday in the first of our head to head battles. At stake is the opportunity to host the Region XIII playoffs,” Johnson stated. “On Wednesday we take on Lake Region at home, another MonDak game that could have region impact also.”

However, more importantly for Johnson is for DCB to get healthy before the region tournament.

“As important as those games are we first need to be concerned about getting healed up for tournament play at the end of the year,” Johnson stated. “We are still waiting to hear when Shakira (Walker) can play. Megan (Green) has missed the last three games and a number of practices due to illness. Leigha (Schmaltz) injured her knee this weekend and Leah (Parizek) re-injured her hand.”
“We need to heal up and get back to full strength,” Johnson stated.

The 3-1 finish to the week has DCB at 8-11 overall for the season.

The Ladyjacks play a home game against region rival Lake Region State at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
DCB played host to United Tribes last night, but scores and stats were unavailable by press time.