Sports

Ladyjacks swept at Classic

By Tyler Ohmann

11/12/2013

Dakota College at Bottineau’s (DCB) women’s basketball team dropped both of their games this past weekend as they went on the road to Devils Lake.

The Ladyjacks fell 72-58 to Jamestown JV on Friday and 87-55 to Northern JV on Saturday as part of the Lake Region State Classic.
The pair of losses dropped DCB to 2-2 overall on the season.

On Friday the Ladyjacks took on the Jimmies in their first game of the Classic.

DCB fell behind early, but nearly caught back up several times in the contest.

“We fell behind right away, 11-1 and battled the rest of the game but could never get a lead,” stated DCB head coach Wayne Johnson. “We trailed 54-32 in the second half and had a nice comeback to cut the lead to six but could not get over the hump.”

The Ladyjacks lost in part to a poor shooting performance according to Johnson. DCB shot 19-of-63 from the field (30 percent) and only 59 percent from the free throw line on 29 attempts.

“Our shooting percentage again really hurt us. We didn’t shoot well from the field and missed some good opportunities at the foul line,” Johnson stated. “To the ladies credit they did keep competing and made that nice run in the second half.”

One bright spot for DCB was freshman Savannah Bruce, who had a strong game with 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists and four steals, all team-bests.

“Savannah had what we hope is a breakout game, leading us in every offensive category,” Johnson stated. “She played extremely hard and certainly was a positive factor for our team.”

Mary Jones, Tessa Walters and Imani Scott all had double digits in scoring with 12, 11 and 10 respectively.

The Ladyjacks came back on Saturday and had a tough task against a sizeable and talented Northern JV squad, and fell to the Wolves 87-55.

DCB hung around with Northern in the first half, and trailed by just seven with a little more than a minute left before halftime. However, a pair of offensive put backs put the Wolves up 28-17 at the break.

The Ladyjacks did find the bottom of the net better in the second half.

“In the second half we did find our shooting stroke, shooting 45 percent from the field and hitting on 7-of-16 from beyond the three point line,” Johnson stated.

However, the Wolves too stepped up their offensive game and scored 59 second-half points, thanks largely to a 60-28 advantage on the glass.

“Unfortunately they got going offensively and put us away in the last ten minutes. Their good size and effort dominated us on the boards,” Johnson stated. “To an extent that is understandable but the 21-4 offensive rebounding difference is disturbing. We need to do a better job on both ends regardless of the size differential.”

The game wasn’t all negatives though, as sophomore Tiffany Bradford stepped up with 15 points and two steals to lead the Ladyjacks.

Fellow sophomore Leah Parizek had six points and six rebounds, while Scott added nine points.

“On the positive side I thought we had short stretches where we played pretty well,” Johnson stated.

The majority of those strong stretches came in the second half.

“Obviously we were very happy with our second half shooting,” Johnson stated. “If we can continue shooting like that it will go a long way toward helping us get to where we expect to be at the end of the season.”

“We have a long ways to go and this weekend should have been a learning experience for us,” Johnson added.

The Ladyjacks also played against Dawson Community College in their first MonDak match-up of the year, but scores and stats were unavailable by press time.

DCB’s next action will be on Saturday and Sunday as they participate in the Baymont Inn Classic in Wahpeton.

Their next home game will be next Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. Against Concordia JV.