Sports
Sioux solidify third seed
Tyler Ohmann
02/04/2014
Three District 11 victories this past week solidified the third seed for the Westhope-Newburg (WN) boys basketball team in the upcoming district tournament.
The Sioux topped Velva 64-55 last Monday, Sawyer 60-40 last Tuesday and Dunseith 66-61 last Friday to cap off a 5-2 district regular season record.
Last Monday the Sioux overcame a halftime deficit in Velva to top the Aggies and push ahead of them in the district standings.
The Sioux scored 31 points in the game’s final quarter to complete the victory, with much of it coming from senior Hunter Braaten.
Braaten finished with 28 points, 18 of them coming from the free throw line in the victory.
Fellow senior Ethan Miller added 15 points, and junior Chance Kitzman had 13 points and nine rebounds to help in the victory.
On Tuesday the Sioux cruised to yet another district win with a 60-40 victory over Sawyer in Newburg.
Sawyer actually led 9-8 after one quarter, but it was all Sioux from there as they took a 25-19 halftime lead. They then added 24 points in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
Braaten was again the catalyst as he scored 26 points to lead the team.
Miller added a double-double with 17 points and a team-best 13 rebounds in the win.
Their closest game of the week came last Friday as the Sioux edged a strong Dunseith squad 66-61 in Westhope.
The game was tight throughout until the Sioux took an 11-point lead with two minutes left. The Dragons then pulled the game to within two with under a minute remaining.
“We just kept playing together, and picked each other up,” Kitzman said. “We got a bit chippy toward each other, but we just brushed it off and kept playing together.”
Miller and Braaten both performed admirably late getting steals and sinking free throws to keep the lead intact.
Braaten had 33 points, and Miller had 24 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Sioux to the win. Braaten also added eight boards and six assists.
A 54-52 loss a week earlier to Drake-Anamoose definitely helped the Sioux play in the tight contest according to Kitzman.
“It showed us that we need to play with that intensity night in and night out to beat teams that are bigger than us, more athletic than us,” Kitzman said.
The victory propelled the Sioux to 12-4 overall and clinched the third seed, which will likely set them up with a matchup against Towner-Granville-Upham in the district tourmanent in Bottineau that begins on Feb. 13.
“It was huge, we needed this to solidify our third seed in the district,” Kitzman said. “We’re pretty sure we have Towner in the first round, and we’ve beaten them once, so we think we can do it again, and get to the district championship.”
WN beat TGU 59-45 back on Jan. 14 in their regular season match up.
The Sioux have non-district games against Bishop Ryan, Rolette-Wolford and Garrison next week to try and get their game in line before district time.
“We have a couple games until the districts, and we really need to step it up, so we can get to that same level and compete with Rugby,” Kitzman said.
WN lost to Rugby last season in the district and region championship games.
Notes:
Braaten is averaging 25.6 points and 2.6 steals per game for the Sioux.
Miller is averaging 16.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game in 16 games.