Sports
Sioux streak continues
Tyler Ohmann
02/12/2013
The Westhope-Newburg boy’s basketball team continued their winning ways this past week as they extended their winning streak to six with three more wins this past week.
The week’s wins included a 62-53 win over Velva last Monday, which improved the Sioux’s district record to 4-3 and earned them the third seed in the upcoming District 11 tournament.
Both the Sioux and Aggies exchanged blows to start the game with the Sioux gaining the upper hand in the first quarter, leading 10-8 after one.
Velva took a narrow 28-27 lead at halftime, and extended it to four points after three quarters.
However, the Sioux had the last word as they out scored the Aggies 26-14 in the final quarter to earn a nine-point win.
Westhope-Newburg had three players in double figures led by senior Kodie Hancock’s 18 points. Also in double figures were Hunter Braaten (11 points) and junior Ethan Miller (10 points).
Hancock added 14 rebounds and three steals to his total as well.
The Sioux continued their strong play in a major victory at home against Rolla. Senior night went well for Westhope-Newburg as they hopped out to an early 23-10 lead after one quarter.
The lead increased to 31 by halftime as they Sioux scored 31 points in the second quarter.
Hancock exploded in the win scoring 33 points on 16-of-24 shooting. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and nabbed six steals, all team-bests.
“We’re just playing like a team, everyone working hard together,” Hancock said about the Sioux’s recent success. “We’re getting the ball down low, and then out to the three pointer when it’s open and taking the easy shots.”
Braaten added 14 points and seniors Jon Sivertson and Logan Hermes each had 12 points on the day. Sivertson also dished out six assists, while Braaten had seven rebounds.
“We try to get in the post, but we get it out to the guards too, so they can drive in and make layups, unlike us posts,” Hancock said. “We’re starting to play like a team, and that’s how we’re playing so good lately.”
Head coach Bob Beaudrie was happy with the intensity the Sioux played with, even though they were playing an opponent without a win this season.
“I told them before the game that we have to stay intense and we have to keep getting better,” Beaudrie said. “If we want to go as far as we want to go, we can’t take any games off and we can’t take a step backward.”
Westhope-Newburg employed a press to force the issue early on, and they relied on transition buckets to ratchet up the lead.
“We’ve worked on that press because we’re going to need it, and we looked on pushing the tempo because that’s what we want to do,” Beaudrie said. “I wasn’t quite sure before the game that we would respond with the intensity we needed to, but I thought they responded really well.”
“When you’ve got guys like Kodie (Hancock) and Hunter (Braaten) and they start working together, that can be pretty deadly,” Beaudrie added.
The Sioux pain train continued in a 69-51 win over Garrison on Saturday in the regular season finale for both teams.
Garrison was hot early and held a 14-13 lead after one quarter, but the Sioux kicked into gear in the second out scoring Garrison by 12 in the second quarter.
It was all Sioux from there on out resulting in an 18-point victory.
Braaten had a strong performance with 29 points. Miller had a team-best nine rebounds and also added five blocked shots.
Passing has been key for the Sioux in their recent success according to Beaudrie.
“When we really play together and pass the ball around and find the extra guy, things start to work a lot better for us,” Beaudrie said. “I think they’re starting to realize that these last four or five games, because we’ve done that really well.”
Despite earning a three seed, the Sioux know that it will be no easy task at districts in which five of the eight teams finished the regular season with 4-3 records.
“We know it’s a hard district,” Kodie Hancock said. “We lost a couple games we should have won, and we won a couple games that were close, so we just need to keep working hard and playing as a team.”
Beaudrie offered a bit of what the Sioux need to do to be one of the top four teams that advance to regions when districts conclude.
“We just need to execute,” Beaudrie said. “Sometimes we get in the habit of one guy is trying to do this, and another guy is trying to do that, this guy is trying to do too much, and I don’t think it’s a selfish thing, we just get into a mindset that we’re going to do what we’re going to do.”
“We’ve got to be better on free throws. In the last game we did really well, and tonight was really poor,” Beaudrie continued. “We just need to be more consistent, because some of those games (districts) might come down to that.”
Westhope-Newburg plays at 7:30 p.m. against Towner-Granville-Upham in the final game of the day on Thursday’s opening round of the District 11 tournament in Rugby.
A win would have the Sioux playing again at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, while a loss would make the Sioux fight for their season’s life at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.