Watford girls edge Tioga
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Watford City’s varsity girls basketball team downed Tioga 41-36 before dropping two close games this past week, falling to Mandaree 49-44 and to Ray 48-47.
This week the Wolves, who are 4-8 for the season, will host Bowman County on Friday and Stanley on Tuesday, Jan. 26.
Mandaree 49, Watford City 44
After leading for most of the game, Watford City lost a District 15 match-up to in-county rival Mandaree 49-44 last Thursday.
Watford City led the Warriors 9-8, 10-15 and 33-30 at the end of the first three quarters but Mandaree would outscore the Wolves 19-11 in the final eight minutes of play to take the win.
Mandaree’s Desiraey Bolman and Audrey Irwin led both teams in scoring with 18 and 10 points, respectively, while Ashli Foli led the Wolves with seven points.
Rounding out the points for Watford City was Marti Quale, Olivia Sundeen, Stephanie Deutsch, Shakira McLaughlin and Dani Bates with six points each, Alexis Sanford with five points and Jayme Johnson with two points.
Also scoring for Mandaree was Toni Johnson with nine points, Kaelani Iu with five points, Hailey Lincoln with four points and Maybella Lone Fight with three points.
Watford City 9 19 33 44
Mandaree 8 15 30 49
Ray 48, Watford City 47
For the second game in a row, Watford City’s girls couldn’t finish off their opponent after leading most of the game as the Wolves lost a heartbreaker to Ray 48-47 on Saturday.
In a hard fought game, the Wolves led the Jays 12-11 at the end of the first quarter and clung onto a two-point, 21-19, halftime lead.
The second half saw the Wolves retain that same two-point advantage, 34-32, at the end of the third quarter, but Ray would battle back in the fourth quarter to take the win.
Dani Bates led both teams in scoring with 23 points.
Also scoring for Watford City was Alexis Sanford with eight points, Stephanie Deutsch with four points, McKayla Haugeberg, Marti Quale and Jayme Johnson would net three points each, Olivia Sundeen two points and Ashli Foli one point.
Watford City 12 21 34 47
Ray 11 19 32 48