Sports

Bottineau County teams take part in double feature

By Tyler Ohmann

01/14/2014

All four Bottineau County prep basketball teams met in the Westhope gymnasium last Tuesday night for a double feature of both girls and boys action.

In the first game between the Stars and the Sioux girls it was a big win by Bottineau in an 83-35 rout of the Sioux.

The second game went the way of the home team Sioux as they were able to lead throughout in a 61-47 victory.

It was the District 11 opener for all four teams.

Stars smash Sioux

The Bottineau Stars successfully opened their District 11 season in the first half of a girls/boys doubleheader last Tuesday as they topped Bottineau County rival Westhope-Newburg (WN) 83-35 in Westhope.

The Stars opened the game on a 13-0 run and never looked back from there. Bottineau led the Sioux 39-16 by halftime and scored 44 points in the second half to earn the 48-point blowout win.

“It was pretty good, we worked together, so it was nice,” said Stars junior Stephanie Brenden.

Brenden led the Stars as she was one rebound away from a triple-double. She finished with a game-high 22 points and team-bests in steals (10) and rebounds (nine).

Bottineau finished with 20 steals in the game, and Brenden said that was the plan coming into the game, to up the defensive intensity.

“We really tried to focus on our defense and creating turnovers, and that turned into baskets,” Brenden said.

Bottineau created 35 Sioux turnovers, but only turned the ball over 12 times themselves, which helped lead to the big discrepancy in score.

Senior Danielle McDonald also played well for the Stars with 11 points, while Maria Diepolder added 10 points and eight rebounds. Junior Kennedy Olson and senior Megan Saville each had eight points as well.

The Sioux were led by junior Molly Lodoen who finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, both team-highs.

WN was without leading scorer and rebounder Lauren Mach. The junior injured her finger over the holiday break in an accident and according to coach Jordan Cooper will likely be out until districts in February, if she is able to come back at all.

For the Stars the win was their third victory of the season, while it was WN’s fourth loss of the year in five games.

Bottineau hopes that this win is a building block for future district success.

“I think we just need to focus and concentrate on our game,” Brenden said. “We’ll be able to do more once we take our time, and learn what we can do.”

Sioux bounce Braves

In the second half of the double feature it was the home team that got the edge as the WN Sioux toppled the visiting Bottineau Braves 61-47.

The Sioux led throughout the contest and opened up a big lead to start the contest.

The Braves drew the game to within seven by the end of the first quarter, and trailed by 10 at halftime.

However, the Sioux turned on the jets in the third quarter with 22 points, which opened up their lead to 21 points, and they never looked back.

“We really, really pushed for it (the win), and now it’s going to get tough, so we’re going to have to step up even more,” said 6-foot, five senior Ethan Miller.

Miller finished with 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting, and grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds.

Amazingly the Sioux only had three scorers for the entirety of their 61 points.

Senior Hunter Braaten led the way with 26 points and six assists.
Chance Kitzman pitched in the final 13 points.

Miller and Kitzman made their success inside the paint, which Miller said was a focal point of their plan against Bottineau.

“We’re trying to work it in definitely,” Miller said. “It just depends who we play, because there are teams like Rugby that we don’t even know if we can do that.”

However, Miller did not expect to find success so easily in the game.

“No, I didn’t expect it, because they’re a very good team, so I was surprised,” Miller said.

Senior Garret Pollman led the Braves with 11 points.

Of note, eighth graders Bryce Haerer and Max Henry both made their varsity debuts in the game. Haerer hit a three-pointer in the second half for his first varsity basket, and Henry hit a jump shot as well for his first points on the varsity hardwood.

The win was the sixth straight for the Sioux, and was the fourth loss in a row for the Braves.

Continuing the Sioux’s winning ways is pretty simple for Miller.

“We just need to keep going good, keep playing good and play as a team,” Miller said.

It certainly worked against their inter-county rivals.