Sports

Sioux win two more, streak now at four in a row

By Bottineau Courant Staff

12/23/2013

A strong start to the season continued for the Westhope-Newburg (WN) Sioux boy’s basketball team as they followed up a fifth place finish in the Velva Invite last weekend with a pair of wins against non-district opponents this past week.

The Sioux began with a 63-27 blowout victory over Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood (MLS) in the second half of a girls/boys doubleheader last Tuesday. From there the Sioux survived a road battle against Kenmare with a 45-41 win last Thursday.

In Tuesday’s win over the MLS the Sioux defense flexed their muscles by holding the Mavericks to 27 points.

WN had 19 steals in the win, and allowed only 10 second-half points, including only three in the third quarter.

The offense played well too, as the Sioux shot 51 percent from the field and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds.

Seniors Hunter Braaten and Ethan Miller led the Sioux on the offensive end with 29 and 20 points respectively.

Miller added 13 rebounds, five blocks and four steals. Fellow senior Hawkin Smette had four steals and four assists, as did junior Chance Kitzman, who had eight points to boot.

Statler Olson led the Mavericks as he had 10 points.

The Sioux’s fifth win of the season did not come as easy last Thursday against Kenmare, where the Sioux needed a 14-6 fourth-quarter to win by four.

The Honkers led 25-20 at halftime and clung to a four-point lead after three quarters, but the Sioux turned on the burners to earn their fourth straight win.

Braaten and Miller again did most of the damage for the Sioux as they had 18 and 16 points respectively. The pair also did some major work on the glass as Miller had a team-best 13 rebounds and Braaten grabbed 12 boards. Kitzman added eight points and seven rebounds.

Hunter Harris had 18 points for the Honkers, and was their only player in double figures.

Sophomores Jordan Hanson and Tanner King combined for 17 rebounds in the losing effort for Kenmare.

The Sioux improved to 3-0 in away games with the pair of road wins, and are now 5-2 overall.

WN also played last Saturday night, but scores and stats were not available by an early press time.

The next action for the Sioux will be their first District 11 action as they play the second half of a girls/boys doubleheader against Bottineau at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 7 in Westhope.

Notes:

Braaten is averaging 25.7 points, 8.3 rebounds 3.4 assists and 3.3 steals per game.

Miller is also doing well as he is averaging 14.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in seven games.