December 28, 2011

Watford girls blow by Ray

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

Watford City split in varsity girls basketball action this past week as the Wolves fell to No. 9-rated Beach, 75-44, before coming back to knock off the Ray Jays, 63-41.
The Wolves, who are 4-1 on the season, will return to the court after the Christmas break on Tuesday, Jan. 3 when Watford City hosts the New Town Eagles in a District 15 match-up.

Beach 75, Watford City 44
For the first two quarters, Watford City was able to stay with a very strong Beach team. But the Wolves ran out of gas in the second half as the Bucs handed Watford City its first loss of the season on Monday, Dec. 19.
“We were able to play with Beach for a half, but one half wasn’t enough against a top team in the state,” stated John Zenz, Wolves head coach. “We have to be able to put full games together to beat good quality teams.  We were able to force the Bucs into many first half turnovers and got Beach into some foul trouble, but we didn’t take advantage of those opportunities as we committed way too many turnovers.”
After trailing the Bucs 12-9 at the end of the first quarter of play, Watford City went on a 19-12 scoring spree in the second quarter to post a 28-24 halftime lead.
But the second half of action turned out very differently for the Wolves. Beach quickly quieted Watford City’s offense in the third quarter holding the Wolves to just three points.
The Bucs led the Wolves by 21 points, 52-31, at the end of the third quarter and then coasted to the easy 75-44 win.
“Beach came out and shot the ball real well, hitting four three-point shots, and put up 26 points, compared to our five points,” stated Zenz. “A bright spot for us was Tasha Bailey who came off the bench to score 10 points.”
McKayla Haugeberg and Tasha Bailey paced the Wolves in scoring with 14 and 10 points, respectively while Katie Mogen ended the game with eight points.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Brianna Allex with six points, Sadie Kieson with four points and Amanda Mogen with two points.
Beach             12    24    52    75
Watford City    9    28    31    44


Watford City 63, Ray 41
After the Wolves lost their first game of the season, it was the Ray Jays who bore the brunt of a determined Wolves girls basketball team to get their winning ways back on track on Tuesday evening. And get back on track they did as the Wolves rolled over the Jays, 63-41, to improve their season record to 4-1.
Watford City’s offense sputtered on a couple of occasions in the first half, which allowed the Jays to stay alive, but the second half belonged entirely to the Wolves.
“It was a good rebound win for the girls,” stated Zenz. “We were able to limit our turnovers to 10, which was a big key after the previous night.
McKayla Haugeberg paced the Wolves with a game high 22 points, while Katie Mogen netted 19 in the winning effort.
Also scoring for Watford City was Brianna Allex with eight points, Sadie Kieson with seven points, Amanda Mogen with three points, while Fallon Fladeland and Tasha Bailey ended the game with two points each.

WATFORD CITY WEATHER