Sports

Sioux take fifth at Velva Invite

By Bottineau Courant Staff

12/17/2013

A 63-49 victory over the Kenmare Honkers last Saturday gave the Westhope-Newburg Sioux their third win of the season and a fifth place finish in the Velva Invitational.

The Sioux fell 53-52 to Surrey in the opening round of the tournament, then beat Sawyer 53-48 to advance to the fifth-place game on Saturday.

Against the Honkers on Saturday the Sioux went to their strength, which is letting Hunter Braaten run the show.

The senior finished with 23 points and seven rebounds as the Sioux used a 20-point halftime lead to earn them a fifth-place finish.

Fellow senior Ethan Miller added 14 points and nine rebounds, while junior Chance Kitzman had 12 points and six boards for the Sioux in the win.

Kenmare was led by Hunter Harris’ 11 points.

To get to the consolation title game the Sioux had to defeat the Sawyer Flashes, and did so by a narrow 53-48 win.

Sawyer led early, but the Sioux broke out in the second quarter to take a 25-21 halftime lead. The Flashes didn’t go away and trailed by only two after three quarters, but the Sioux hung tough and earned the win.

Braaten exploded with 36 points on 14-of-26 shooting, both season highs. Miller added nine points and a team-best 12 rebounds in the win, and Kitzman had eight points and seven rebounds.

Colton Lund and Paul Folden led the Flashes, as the pair combined for 38 points. Lund led them with 21 points.

In the opening round the Sioux fell in a heart breaker to the Surrey Mustangs.

WN led by two at halftime and expanded that lead to nine points at the end of the third quarter. However, the Mustangs made a strong run in the final quarter to escape with a one-point win.

The Mustangs did a good job against Braaten and held him to 20 points on 6-of-22 shooting. Braaten did do other things in the way of helping his teammates as he grabbed 11 rebounds (six of them offensive) and nabbed nine steals.

Miller added 13 points and seven boards.

The Sioux had a tough time containing Surrey’s Noah Knipp, who finished with 20 points to help the Mustangs earn the win.

Surrey would wind up losing on Friday and would then win the third place game 56-54 over White Shield.

The Sioux, now 3-2 on the season, will play the second half of a boys/girls double header at 7:15 p.m. tonight in Mohall against the Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood Mavericks.

WN will then travel to Kenmare on Thursday and play Rolla in Minot on Saturday to close out their schedule before the holiday break.