Sports
Stars split in pair of home games
Tyler Ohmann
01/21/2014
It was another roller coaster ride for the Bottineau Stars basketball team this past week.
On Monday the Stars hit the highs as they topped Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood (MLS) 52-47. Last Thursday things dipped for the Stars as they let a three-quarter lead slip away to fall 49-42 to Towner-Granville-Upham (TGU).
The loss to the Titans was the first district loss for the Stars, who beat Westhope-Newburg convincingly in the District 11 opener back on Jan. 7.
Early on it looked like the Stars might be on their way to a second district win. Suffocating defense and transition baskets, coupled with a tough zone defense had the Stars up by as much as 10 points during parts of the first half.
However, the Titans went on a run before half and trailed by only a point heading into the break. The Stars fell behind in the second half, the game stayed close, but Bottineau could not overcome the Titans lead.
“I thought the girls played well in the first, second, third quarter, but just ran out of gas in the third quarter,” said Stars head coach Joe Bender. “We had too many jump balls, too many turnovers, and I don’t know why we ran out of gas.”
“We’re usually a very good team that is conditioned well, runs the floor well and likes that kind of game,” Bender added.
Senior Danielle McDonald paced the Stars offense and led all scorers with 16 points. She also added seven rebounds. Junior Stephanie Brenden had 10 points and five assists in the losing effort, while senior Megan Saville had a team-best eight rebounds to go with six points.
However, it was inopportune turnovers that really hurt the Stars come back efforts.
“When we were making good runs, we’d get it down to three, and then turn the ball over, and they’d score,” Bender said. “We just have to get better at capitalizing when we have good defensive possessions.”
“You can work really hard on defense, but if you don’t capitalize after that, you’re just going and working again, and work and work and work,” Bender added.
TGU was led by senior center Mattie Schmidt who had 14 points. McKenna Thompson added nine, while Akesha Juarez and Maddy Bollinger had eight apiece.
Despite the loss, Bender told the girls that they should not hang their heads.
“That’s one thing I told the girls, and that we’re positive on is that we definitely can play with Towner, and I’d love to play them again,” Bender said. “We had a lead for three quarters of the game, and it’s real positive on that end, and the girls are looking forward to the rest of their district games.”
It was not all heartbreak for the Stars this past week though, because last Monday night on Jan. 13 the Stars did get a victory, a 52-47 win over MLS.
The visiting Mavericks hung around all game, but the Stars were able to weather them and end in a five-point victory over a region foe.
Shania Brackenbury had 22 points for the Mavericks to lead all scorers, but the balanced scoring from the Stars is what helped them earn the win.
Junior Kennedy Olson had one of her best games of her career as she put in 14 points. McDonald added 12 points and a team-best eight rebounds, while Brenden had 11 points.
The week’s split puts the Stars at 4-6 overall and 1-1 in District 11 play so far this season.
Next week it will be another set of district tests for the Stars. At 7:30 p.m. tonight the Stars will host Drake-Anamoose for their next district contest. At 7:30 p.m. on Friday the Stars will travel to take on Dunseith, and on Saturday the Stars will return home to host Region 6 juggernaut Bishop Ryan at 5 p.m.