Sports

Sioux offense coming around at season's end

By Bottineau Courant Staff

02/25/2014

Three home games concluded the Westhope-Newburg (WN) regular season schedule this past week. Within those games the Sioux fell twice (78-40 to Rolette-Wolford and 55-51 to Glenburn) and won their fourth contest of the year (59-53 over Surrey).

The games hope to be a warm up for the upcoming District 11 Tournament for the Sioux.

WN will play in the third game of the first day of district competition in Rugby on Friday. As the seven seed, the Sioux will play against second-seeded Velva, who beat them 60-16 in the regular season back on Jan. 24.

However, that game was without junior leader Lauren Mach, who has since returned from an injured hand, and was a big part of their win against Surrey last Thursday.

The Sioux topped the Mustangs by six, but that only tells part of the story.

Early on it was Surrey that had the advantage as they led by three after one quarter. WN fought strong in the second quarter to take a two-point halftime lead. A lead they would never relinquish.
The Sioux built that lead up to as much as 14 early in the fourth quarter. Surrey would gain some momentum late, but WN held on for their fourth win of the year.

A quartet of juniors were impressive in the win for the Sioux. Mach and Molly Lodoen each had 12 points, while Amber Hall and Maddy Lodoen had 11 points. For Maddy it was a career high and one of her strongest outings of the season.

Senior Ashlyn Huber added eight points as well for WN in the win.

Surrey was led by Chelsea Deibert’s game-high 19 points, but her effort was not enough.

The momentum from that win was not enough for the Sioux to go out on senior night with a win, however.

Rival Glenburn came in to Westhope and took the wind out of the Sioux’s sails in a see-saw battle.

The Panthers had the edge early on as they led by four after one quarter and by three at the break.

However, the Sioux turned it on in the second half and captured a two-point advantage after three quarters.

Glenburn found their strength in the final quarter and wound up with a narrow, four-point victory.

Molly Lodoen led all scorers as she put in 18 points for the Sioux. Mach added 14 for WN in the loss.

The Panthers were led by Lindsay Schneibel’s 15 and Randy Long’s 13 points. Maddy Heinle added 12 points.

WN concluded their regular season with a 4-15 record overall, however they hope to make waves when it comes to district time, and potentially advancing to a region tournament.