Sports
Sioux send seniors away with big win
Tyler Ohmann
02/11/2014
The regular season closed out pretty well for the Westhope-Newburg (WN) Sioux as they won two of their final three games in a home stand to conclude it.
The pair of wins gave the Sioux five wins in their past six games to close out the regular season.
WN did fall 62-45 to Bishop Ryan to start the week last Monday, but concluded strongly with wins over Rolette-Wolford and Garrison. All three games were played in Westhope.
The three non-district contests finished the regular season with a 14-5 record for the Sioux. They had already concluded their district season with a 5-2 mark, and will be the third seed in the upcoming District 11 Tournament in Bottineau.
The week began last Monday as 30 points from senior Hunter Braaten was not enough to beat a strong Bishop Ryan (13-6) squad.
The Lions stormed out to a 21-10 lead after one quarter, and extended the lead to 14 points by halftime. The Sioux offense, minus Braaten, could not get going, and senior Ethan Miller had a season-low seven points.
Chance Kitzman grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Sioux, and Miller did have nine boards and three steals, but it was not enough.
However, the Sioux did have enough to beat Rolette-Wolford last Thursday.
The Sioux started the game in convincing fashion by opening up a 21-7 lead after one quarter. The Comets cut the lead to eight by the end of the third quarter, but WN exploded for 24 fourth-quarter points to secure the comfortable win.
Braaten was again on top of the scoring charts as he tied a season-best with 36 points on 14-of-21 shooting.
Miller had a strong night with a double-double, 15 points and 17 rebounds.
Kitzman added 11 rebounds, eight points and a team-best five assists in the victory, the Sioux’s 13th of the year.
WN concluded their regular season with a 68-41 blowout of the Garrison Troopers last Saturday in Westhope.
It was all Sioux from the get go as WN went up 24-4 by the end of the first quarter. It was senior night for the Sioux and senior Hunter Ballantyne had an impressive eight points in the first quarter.
Braaten also made the most of his senior night with 20 first-half points, and concluded with 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting.
Miller added 19 points and 12 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season.
The Sioux led 46-15 at hafltime, and 63-26 after three quarters as the contest was never close.
Senior Hawkin Smette said it was great to earn a win on the four seniors’ final games on the Westhope court.
“It feels really good, and we wanted to make sure we came out with a win tonight,” Smette said.
Another plus for the Sioux is that the pair of wins they earned this week will help them enter into the District 11 Tournament, where they open in the final game of the day on Thursday against Towner-Granville-Upham.
“It will definitely help,” Smette said. “Coach always says that it’s good to go out with a win, and not have a loss on our backs.”
“We wanted to win, so that we could be prepared for the districts,” Smette added.
As for those districts, Smette knows that it will not be easy for the Sioux to win. They fell in the District 11 Championship game last season to Rugby.
“None of the games are going to be easy, they are all going to be dog fights night in and night out,” Smette said. “We’re just going to play as hard as we can, and hopefully come out on top.”
The Sioux followed that up with a run to the Region 6 Championship game, where they once again were bested by the Panthers.
“It would be huge, we definitely want to get back to regions this year,” Smette said. “We kind of have a sour taste in our mouth about last year, so we want to redeem ourselves.”
The Sioux fell by 13 to the Panthers earlier this season. Rugby is currently undefeated this season, and ranked No. 1 in the state.
They beat Four Winds-Minnewaukan this past week to claim that top spot in the polls.
Notes:
Braaten averaged 26.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.6 steals per game in 19 regular season games.
Miller averaged 15.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game for the Sioux.