Sports

DCB women split at Lane Johnson Classic

By Tyler Ohmann

12/10/2013

The Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) women split this past weekend as they traveled to Bismarck to play two games in the Lane Johnson Classic.

The Ladyjacks fell 83-72 on Friday to Jamestown JV, but then turned the tide against the Minot Air Force Base (MAFB) with a 67-58 win on Saturday.

Things started out well for the Ladyjacks in their second match up with the Jimmies of the season last Friday. DCB jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the early going.

However, with about five minutes to go in the half the Jimmies had clawed back on top, and never trailed from then on.

“We went down to the Jimmies for the second time this year but in different fashion,” stated Ladyjacks head coach Wayne Johnson. “Last time we started slowly and clawed back in but couldn’t get over the hump while this time we started fast and let momentum escape.”

The rebounding battle was even at 43 a piece, but the Ladyjacks turned the ball over 24 times, while forcing only 17 turnovers.
That was the difference in the game.

“We shot well enough from the field and the free throw line while scoring enough points to win,” Johnson stated. “Unfortunately we could not stop them defensively. We gave up too many transition baskets and had a hard time keeping the ball out of the post area.”

Three Ladyjacks were in double figures led by Imani Scott’s 15 points. Tessa Walters added 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Tiffany Bradford had 10 points.

Sophomore and defenisve leader Leah Parizek left in the first half with concussion-like symptoms and could be out for a week.

On Saturday the Ladyjacks got the outcome they were looking for as they took care of MAFB 67-58.

DCB fell behind 9-2 early on, but gained a lead before halftime and led 33-26 at the break.

The Ladyjacks kept their foot on the throttle to earn the nine-point win.

Johnson was happy with how the bench really helped in the game.

“Our bench came through with some excellent play and was huge in the outcome of the game,” Johnson stated.

One of those bench players was sophomore Dominque Staten, who finished with 12 points and five rebounds. Fellow sophomore Bradford added 10 points.

Freshman Imani Scott led the Ladyjacks with 12 points in the win, while Savannah Bruce came one rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

“It was a positive to see the balanced scoring this weekend and really good to see four in double figures today,” Johnson stated.

Defensively the Ladyjacks held MAFB to 27 percent shooting and out rebounded them 55-45.

The split pushed the Ladyjacks record to 7-5.

DCB has two more games before the semester break. They travel to Belcout and play at 6 p.m. tonight against Turtle Mountain Community College. They return home to play at 6 p.m. on Friday for their last contest of the semester as they host Jamestown JV.