Sports

Stars, Sioux meet as they head down the home stretch

By Tyler Ohmann

02/12/2013

The Bottineau Stars and Westhope-Newburg Sioux girl’s basketball teams met last Tuesday in Bottineau for an important contest in regards to seeding in the upcoming District 11 Tournament.

A win for the Sioux would have pushed the Sioux past the Stars in the standings, and a win for the Stars gives them an opportunity to potentially jump up to a four seed with a win next Tuesday against Sawyer.

The battle ensued between the Bottineau County rivals, and neither team had the upper hand early on. Westhope-Newburg took a narrow 11-10 lead after one quarter. However, the Stars came back strong in the second to take a 26-23 halftime lead, which head coach Joe Bender attributes to stingy defense from some young players.

“I thought Westhope came out with way more intensity and ball pressure than we came out with, and we were flat and hesitant,” Bender said. “I basically just told them at half time that we needed to step it up, play with a little more intensity, and I feel like they did.”

“I also thought that my young group came in the second quarter and really stepped up and really played some good defense and with much more intensity,” Bender added.

After the break the game swayed in favor of the Stars as they enlarged their lead in the third and fourth quarters. Eventually it was the Stars that emerged victorious with a 66-52 win.

“We lost the small battles,” said Sioux head coach Jordan Cooper. “We made some mistakes when we shouldn’t have. That’s the things that you need to get corrected before district time, and we’ll get them corrected.”

“So many of these basketball games are won and lost in those small battles, and consistently losing those tells me that we just need to get better at fundamentals,” Cooper added.

Bender said the key to victory was the ability of the Stars to knock down shots and drive to the hoop.

“We shot the ball much better and didn’t fall in love with the three-point line,” Bender said. “We went in to get some drives and get to the free throw line.”

Early on though it was the Sioux that looked impressive. They employed a strong press that created some early turnovers that kept them in the game.

“We’ve been experimenting a run/jump press to try and throw a little wrench in the system,” Cooper said. “When it comes to full court basketball, which we don’t like playing offensively, we’re hoping to give a little back to some teams.”

However, the Stars took to the post in the second, and senior Whitney Brandvold held her own scoring a career-best 16 points.

“I thought Whitney Brandvold played great,” Bender said. “She owned that post and shot real well, came off the bench and did really good for us.”

Also strong for Bottineau were Stephanie Brenden (14 points) and Katryna Hahn (12 points).

The Sioux were led by seniors Bailey Tofteland and Hadlee Schell, who each had 15 points.

Sophomore Lauren Mach added 12 points in the losing effort.

Bender hoped the win might spark some much needed confidence from his young squad.

“I think the biggest thing is that the girls really need to gain some confidence, and today probably helped that,” Bender said. “They’ve been really struggling mentally with the way we’ve been shooting the past couple games, so coming out and shooting well is really going to help that.”

“We play really hard, tough defense, but we don’t always shoot the ball real well, but I think the confidence is going to go a long ways,” Bender added.

For the Sioux, who are now 1-4 in district play, Cooper said they just need to try and put together all the pieces.

“There are spots, we’ve got glimmers,” Cooper said. “We just have to pull it together.”

Bottineau improved to 2-4 in district play with the win. Their final district game is at 7:30 p.m. tonight at home against Sawyer.

The Sioux play their final district contest at 7:15 p.m. tonight in Newburg against Drake-Anamoose.