Sports

Braaten, Sioux win three

By Tyler Ohmann

02/05/2013

Both Hunter Braaten and the Westhope-Newburg Sioux had a successful week on all counts. The Sioux won three games, including two strong district wins and Braaten scored the 1,000th point of his career in a 31-point game in a win over Stanley last Thursday.

“We just started playing together, and we’ve been playing a lot better in the last couple games,” Braaten said.

The week began last Tuesday with a huge 82-50 win over a much improved Sawyer team.

The Sioux shot lights out from the get go, scoring 26 points in the first quarter and 48 in the first half to build a 48-17 halftime lead. For the game Westhope-Newburg shot 51 percent from the field.
A big part of that was Braaten, who scored 24 points, grabbed six boards and swiped five steals.

He has grown comfortable in being the go-to scoring option in recent games.

“I try to lead us as much as I can, and they give me the ball when I think I need it,” Braaten said.

The Sioux continued to roll on Thursday as they hosted Stanley in a make up game that was postponed from Jan. 12.

Again a strong start by the Sioux (41-13 lead at halftime) propelled the Sioux to a wide margin of victory (64-40).

Braaten, who scored a game-high 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and had eight steals led the Sioux.

In the game, he also reached a career milestone—1,000 points.

“It’s a pretty good feeling,” Braaten said about getting to 1,000 points. “I don’t even know what to say, but it’s awesome.”

Several other Sioux players were strong in the game, especially on the boards as Karlie and Kodie Hancock each had nine rebounds in the win, and junior Ethan Miller grabbed eight boards to go along with eight points.

Braaten came up big for the third straight game in a 64-48 win over Dunseith in a district contest in Dunseith on Friday.

The junior had 30 points on 13-of-21 shooting and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.

Dunseith proved to be a tough opponent keeping the game within five points throughout the first half. However, Braaten and the Sioux wore down the Dragons in the second half out scoring them 37-24.

Miller and Kodie Hancock added 11 points apiece and Kodie had nine steals in the win.

Braaten said it is no surprise that the Sioux have come together in the past week.

“It’s always been that way the last couple years. We’ve always been together a lot better during districts and regions,” Braaten said.

Westhope-Newburg, who is 11-5 overall and 3-3 in District 11 played their final district game last night against Velva and have two non-district bouts before the district tournament starts on Feb. 14 in Rugby.

Scores and stats were unavailable by press time in last night’s contest with Velva.

Braaten provides some simple insight into how the Sioux can continue their winning ways heading into the post season.

“We just got to keep playing together, passing the ball and sharing the ball,” Braaten said.

The Sioux play at 7:15 p.m. in Rolla on Thursday and at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Garrison to complete their regular season schedule.