Watford girls pick up three more wins
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
With wins over Trenton, Bowman County and Beulah this past week, Watford City’s varsity girls basketball team extended its season record to 11-2. The only down side to the Wolves’ action last week was a 70-38 loss to Turtle Mountain, a Class A team.
The Wolves will be hosting two home games this week when Max comes to town on Jan. 30, with Watford City hosting Dickinson High on Feb. 1. Watford City will close out this week’s schedule when the Wolves travel to Parshall on Feb. 2.
Turtle Mountain 70, Watford City 38
Watford City stayed close to Class A Turtle Mountain for the first five minutes of action on Jan. 19. But without the services of Katie Mogen, the Wolves’ leading scorer who was sidelined with an ankle injury, Watford City couldn’t stay with the Bravettes’ physical and fast-paced game.
The Wolves trailed Turtle Mountain, 39-20, at the end of the first half, before falling to the Bravettes, 70-38.
Mackenzie Sparby paced the Wolves in scoring with 15 points, while Lea Arndt netted eight points in the losing effort.
Rounding out Watford City’s scoring was Ricki Lindley with five points, ReiAnn Lindley and Kaytlyn Grimes with three points each, while Krystal Wold and Alli Mogen ended the game with two points.
Watford City 20 38
Turtle Mountain 39 70
Watford City 57, Trenton 39
After a close first half, Watford City turned up the heat on Trenton in the second half on Thursday evening to down the Tigers, 57-39.
The Wolves led the Tigers, 18-12, at the end of the first quarter, before leading Trenton by seven points, 32-25, at halftime.
But Watford City took control of the game early in the second half as the Wolves extended their lead to 15 points, 50-35, going into the final eight minutes of play. And Watford City’s defense put the finishing touches on the win, as the Wolves held the Tigers to just four points in the final stanza en route to the 57-39 win.
Three Watford City players scored in double figures in the win with Mackenzie Sparby pacing both teams in scoring with 16 points, while Lea Arndt and Ricki Lindley joined her in double-digit scoring with 13 points each.
Also scoring for Watford City was Katie Mogen with seven points, Kaytlyn Grimes with four points, while Avery Sundeen and Krystal Wold ended the game with two points each.
Watford City 18 32 50 57
Trenton 12 25 35 39
Watford City 63, Bowman County 25
In a game that was over after the first quarter, Watford City blew out the Bowman County Bulldogs, 63-25, on Friday evening.
The Wolves’ pressure defense proved to be too much for Bowman County as Watford City led the Bulldogs, 22-2, at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter wasn’t much better for Bowman County as Watford City went on a 15-6 scoring spree to hold a commanding, 37-8, halftime lead.
Watford City continued to dominate the action in the second half with the Wolves outscoring Bowman County, 17-9 and 9-8, in the final two quarters of play.
Mackenzie Sparby and Katie Mogen led Watford City in scoring with 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Also scoring for Watford City was Lea Arndt with nine points, Ricki Lindley with seven points, Krystal Wold and ReiAnn Lindley with five points each, Kaytlyn Grimes with four points, Alli Mogen and Avery Sundeen with three points each and Iida Lehto with two points.
Watford City 22 37 54 63
Bowman 2 8 17 25
Watford City 80, Beulah 23
With a dominating, 80-23, win over Beulah on Saturday evening, Watford City capped off a three-game winning steak.
In a game where the Wolves were never challenged, Watford City had 11 players make the scoring column with four players scoring in double figures.
Mackenzie Sparby paced both teams in scoring with 15 points, while Ricki Lindley netted 11 points, and Katie Mogen and Avery Sundeen scored 10 points each.
The Wolves led the Miners, 21-5, at the end of the first quarter, and by 24 points, 38-14, at halftime.
Watford City’s defense continued to cause Beulah fits in the second half as the Miners would only score three points in the third quarter and six points in the final stanza.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was ReiAnn Lindley with nine points, Kaytlyn Grimes with six points, Lea Arndt with five points, Alli Mogen, Krystal Wold and Emma Mogen with four points each, and Lindsay Peterson with two points.
Watford City 21 38 60 80
Beulah 5 14 17 23