Sports

Stars experience both sides

By Tyler Ohmann

02/04/2014

A weekly split against tough District 11 competition leaves the Bottineau Stars with a 4-2 district record with one game remaining.

The Stars topped Rugby in a 46-45 thriller last Tuesday in Rugby to get their fourth win.

Bottineau could not use that momentum against a quick Velva team at home last Thursday though, and fell to the Aggies 51-33 in the first game of a girls/boys doubleheader.

The Rugby game went back and forth as each team fought hard to get the win, and help their chances at a higher seed in the district tournament.

“It was just two teams battling it out to the end,” said Stars head coach Joe Bender. “The girls did a fantastic job, I was so proud of them.”

Bottineau held an advantage throughout most of the game, but the Panthers closed the gap late. However, the Stars were able to keep the lead, and earn the narrow win.

“They hustled, they rebounded well,” Bender said. “It was just a great game of two teams giving it all they can on the court.”

“That was the best game of the year,” Bender added.

The trio of Megan Saville, Stephanie Brenden and Danielle McDonald each had 11 points in the win. McDonald added seven rebounds, and Brenden had six rebounds and four assists to help the Stars get the win.

Bender believes the close games the Stars have played this season (they have won three games by five or less points) will help them in the long run.

“We’ve had a lot of close games, and I’ve been telling the girls that it is good for us,” Bender said. “It makes us tough having three or four of those type of games.”

Bottineau was unable to keep the game against Velva close though last Thursday as the Aggies outwilled the Stars by 18 in a district match up.

A rough start for the Stars saw them down early, and quashed any momentum they had entering the contest.

“I think that we just came out flat, we didn’t come out with a lot of intensity, and they came out with a lot,” Bender said. “They threw probably the best man-to-man on us that I’ve seen all year, and we had a tough time getting into our offensive sets.”

“It seemed to snowball from there,” Bender added.

Bottineau was unable to hit shots, and struggled with the Aggies quickness in the contest.

“They are quick, and honestly I think they are quicker than (Bishop) Ryan,” Bender said. “They are the best defense we’ve seen, it seems like there are six players out there.”

Brenden had nine points and seven rebounds to lead the Stars.
Freshman Jonah Lee had 19 points and Sarah Wherley had a game-best 20, many on offensive put backs to lead the Aggies to victory.

“We had a lot of girls that were a little off on their shots, and they seemed a bit hesitant,” Bender said. “They were a bit conservative, and we did not box out well, and we were out rebounded bad.”

However, Bender believed the game came down to the start, where the Stars stumbled.

“I was hoping our intensity was better,” Bender said. “We just didn’t start out well, if we would have started out better I think we’d have been OK.”

Bottineau hosts Our Redeemers in a Region 6 matchup at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, and closes out their district regular season at Sawyer on Feb. 11.

The Stars are 7-8 overall on the season.