Sports

Bottineau girls basketball overcome obstacles to advance to regions

By Bottineau Courant Staff

03/04/2014

The Bottineau Stars’ season stayed alive last night as they topped the Rugby Panthers 49-42.

It was a rough start to the weekend for the Stars who lost 75-65 in overtime to Dunseith in the District 11 Tournament’s opening round. The Stars then played a closely contested first half with Westhope-Newburg, but eventually emerged victorious 62-45.

However, the weekend brightened last night with the win over the Panthers.

It started slow for both teams as Bottineau took a narrow early lead 7-5 after one quarter.

However, the Panthers had a great second quarter and led 23-16 at halftime.

Bottineau came out of the break strong, and eventually took a two-point lead by the end of the quarter, as they out scored the Panthers 19-10 in the quarter.

Bottineau then held the Panthers in check in the final quarter to earn the seven-point win.

Bottineau led by as much as nine at one point in the fourth.
The Stars were led by senior Danielle McDonald, who finished with 17 points, 12 of which came in the second half.

Junior Stephanie Brenden added nine points, all scored in the second half for the Stars.

Darby Deckert and Shea Heidlebaugh each had 15 points for the Panthers in the loss.

Bottineau won despite turning the ball over 17 times in the contest. However, they did have a 49-40 advantage in rebounding.

In round one as the third seed the Stars took on the sixth-seeded Lady Dragons from Dunseith.

Bottineau held the lead early on and at halftime thanks to strong play from senior Danielle McDonald.

However, in the second half the Dragons offense exploded for 43 points. Dunseith’s McKayla Peltier had 27 points to lead all scorers.

Bottineau was led by the strong effort from McDonald. She finished with 23 points and nine rebounds. Kennedy Olson and Stephanie Brenden each had a dozen points a piece, while Brenden added six assists and five boards.

It was another tough road for the Stars on Saturday as they played the seventh-seed Westhope-Newburg.

The Sioux and Stars were deadlocked most of the first half, with the Stars gaining a narrow three-point advantage at half.

However, Bottineau opened up in the second, and expanded their lead little by little to win by 17.

Brenden had a solid game for the Stars with 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals.

McDonald ripped down 15 rebounds and added nine points. Olson had 14 points, while senior Megan Saville had nine points in the win.

The Stars improve to a 13-9 overall record this season, and will play Berthold at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Monday, March 10 in the opening round of the Region 6 Tournament.