Sports

Sioux fall prey to Panthers in title game

By Tyler Ohmann

03/05/2013

After a strong run to end the first quarter in last Thursday’s Region 6 Championship game the Westhope-Newburg Sioux tied the Rugby Panthers at 13, and looked primed to upset the state’s fourth-ranked team.

However, the Rugby team who had gone 22-1 entering that game regained their poise in the second quarter to take an 11-point halftime lead.
While the Sioux hung with the Panthers in the second half, they were unable to cut the deficit under five, and the Panthers clinched a region title in a 54-39 win.

“We played as good a 32 minutes as far as intensity and focus, teamwork hustle as we could,” said Sioux head coach Bob Beaudrie. “We got a lot of good looks. We worked the ball really well in our offense, but we missed a lot of good shots, and obviously over a few times and that hurt us.”

“We played a great game,” Beaudrie added.

It was the third loss the Sioux suffered to the Panthers this season, losing to them in the regular season and then getting beat by 33 in the district championship game.

“They are a fast athletic team,” said senior center Karlie Hancock. “They can all jump, and they are fast.”

Junior Hunter Braaten, who was later named to the All-Region team, led the way for the Sioux. He finished with 17 points. Senior Lane Berentson stepped up in the contest and tied a season-high with 11 points. Fellow senior Kodie Hancock ended with a team-best 16 rebounds and also added nine points.

However, it was the defense that Beaudrie was most impressed with.

“I think this is the least amount of points Rugby has scored all season, and our kids are the reason,” Beaudrie said. “They played their tails off.”

It was the lowest total for the Panthers during the playoffs and the fourth-lowest they scored this season.

Kodie Hancock, who scored his 1,000th point in the game, also added an impressive eight blocks to lead the Sioux defense.

With the loss, Beaudrie offered a prediction for Rugby moving forward.

“I’ve seen them all play this year, and Rugby is the best team I’ve seen,” Beaudrie said. “Rugby is going to win the state tournament, and they’ll prove that next week.”

“So, to hang with the eventual state champions is pretty darn good for our kids,” Beaudrie continued. “We had our chances, we just couldn’t put the ball in the hole when we needed to.”

Title trip

The Sioux began the region tournament by beating the third seed out of District 12, the Our Redeemer’s Knights, 67-57 in the opening round last Monday.

Following that win the Sioux were faced with a gargantuan task—upsetting District 12’s top team Berthold.

The Sioux played strongly to start the game and led 10-9 after one quarter. However, the Bombers showed why they were the top team in their district as they drew away from the Sioux. Berthold held a seven-point halftime lead, and then went on a run to begin the third quarter to go up by 14.

It was then that the Sioux made their rally.

They whittled the lead back down to seven by the end of the third quarter, and then made a fourth-quarter run, spurred by senior leaders like Karlie Hancock.

“We knew that they would probably double team Hunter (Braaten), so we just played differently,” Karlie said. “It was fun. It was a team effort.”

It was Karlie Hanock the Sioux leaned on in the win as he finished with a team-high 15 points and also 10 rebounds. Brother Kodie Hancock had 11 points and 16 rebounds to help the Sioux along. Braaten, the team’s leading scorer, had only 11 points in the big win.

“That was a fun game to be a part of just for the comeback part of it,” Beaudrie said. “That was part of our senior leadership, guys saying that we’re not going to give up.”

No regrets

The runner-up finish in the region tournament left the Sioux with an 18-7 final record on the season, one which Beaudrie said the Sioux are proud of.

“These past few weeks we’ve talked about no regrets,” Beaudrie said. “Make sure you get on the floor, and when the games over you can’t have any regrets.”

“They shouldn’t have any regrets, because they played their hearts out,” Beaudrie added.

As to why the Sioux had success this season, Karlie Hancock had a simple explanation.

“We have heart,” Karlie said.

Notes:

•  Junior Hunter Braaten concluded the season as the Sioux’s leading scorer, as he averaged 20.3 points per game. He also added 6.7 rebounds and 3.4 steals per game.
•  Senior Kodie Hancock averaged 11.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game in 18 contests.