Sports
Ladyjacks split at first Cobblestone Classic
Tyler Ohmann
11/26/2013
The first ever Cobblestone Classic hosted by Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) went pretty well for the Ladyjacks.
The DCB women split their two games as they fell 72-60 to a tough Northland team on Friday night and then downed Trinity Bible 83-71 on Saturday afternoon.
DCB started their weekend with a tough-fought loss to the Pioneers on Friday evening. The Ladyjacks had a tough time stopping the Pioneers inside in the second half. DCB trailed by only five at halftime.
“I thought we met the challenge in the first half and did a great job defending their weapons,” stated Ladyjacks head coach Wayne Johnson. “Unfortunately they went to work with their big, Sarah Durand, in the second half and we didn’t do as well getting to her with help.”
Durand had 17 points in the second half, which helped propel Northland to the win.
The Ladyjacks were led by sophomore Leah Parizek who had 15 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Imani Scott added 11 points, while Belcourt native Shikiya Chase provided nine points in the loss.
Mary Jones added nine points and eight rebounds.
“We were pleased with the effort and thought we did some things better,” Johnson stated. “Northland has an excellent team and certainly has the potential to repeat their trip to the national tournament in their division. They have very good size, a strong inside game, and excellent long range shooting.”
The final score was not in our favor but if we compete with this type of effort and shoot the ball better we will win our share of games,” Johnson added.
And shoot the ball better they did in their game on Saturday, a 12-point win over the Lady Lions of Trinity Bible.
The Ladyjacks improved from 10 percent on three-point shooting to 38 percent on Saturday. They also shot 52 percent from the field in the win.
“Our shooting from the field came around at exactly the right time,” Johnson stated. “We played another very good team today in the Lady Lions.”
Freshman Savannah Bruce played a big role in the win as she had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. She also added two blocks.
“I’ve been really comfortable and it’s getting a lot better,” Bruce said. “We’re really starting to come together as a team, our egos are starting to come together and that’s good.”
Scott was another Ladyjack that stepped up to the challenge and found her shot from down town. She finished with a team-best 21 points. Jones added 12, Parizek added 10 boards and Chase had nine points and eight rebounds in the win.
DCB won despite turning the ball over 29 times, but they also had a 51-34 advantage on the glass.
“We turned the ball over too many times but did get some easy baskets to make them pay,” Johnson stated. “We did a very good job of sharing the ball overall and that helped create a solid 1.00 point per possession rating in spite of the number of turnovers.”
Bruce knows that despite three wins in the past four games the Ladyjacks still have a lot of work to do to reach their potential.
“A lot of defense we have to work on and offense more dribbling and holding on to the ball,” Bruce said. “All of us have so much talent, and it’s just awesome when we can work together.”
“I think we’ll be a team to reckon with this year,” Bruce added.
DCB hosts Turtle Mountain Community College at 6 p.m. tonight at the Woodshed. They are then off until Dec. 4.
The Ladyjacks sit at 5-4 on the season after the split.
“Overall it was just a very good team performance and a good weekend for our Ladyjacks against two quality opponents,” Johnson stated.