Wolves fall to No. 1 Bucs
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
After extending their winning streak to nine games with wins of 71-39 over Tioga and 72-53 over North Shore/Plaza, Watford City’s winning streak came to an end on Saturday afternoon as the Beach Bucs downed the Wolves, 58-37.
This week, the Wolves will travel to Divide County on Thursday.
Watford City 71, Tioga 39
Watford City was on fire from three-point land last Tuesday as the Wolves drained 10 three-pointers and cruised by the Tioga Pirates, 71-39.
Alexis Sanford definitely had the hot hand for the Wolves as she connected for seven long-range shots to lead the Wolves in scoring with 21 points. Joining her in double digits was Marti Quale with 15 points, including one three-pointer, while McKayla Haugeberg drained two treys en route to her 10-point finish.
“We shot the lights out in the first half, hitting on eight three-pointers which opened up some driving lanes for other people,” stated Berton Bates, Wolves’ head coach. “We started and finished the game well with another balanced scoring effort.”
The Wolves jumped out to a 26-12 first-quarter lead, and then never looked back as Watford City outscored the Pirates, 13-12 and 20-10, in the next two quarters of play.
Also scoring for Watford City was Brianna Allex with nine points, Jayme Johnson with eight points, Dani Bates with four points, while Sadie Kieson and Shanyce Fredericks netted two points each.
Johnson and Bates pulled down nine and eight boards, respectively, for the Wolves, while Quale had seven assists and Allex had five steals.
For the game, the Wolves shot 20 of 44 from the field and were good on 10 of 20 three-pointers. At the free-throw line, Watford City was one of eight.
Watford City 26 39 59 71
Tioga 12 24 34 39
Watford City 72, NSP 53
McKayla Haugeberg burned the nets for a game-high 22 points, including one three-pointer while dishing off five assists and coming up with eight steals, as the Watford City Wolves rolled over the North Shore/Plaza Wildcats, 72-53, on Thursday.
“We played well offensively and had excellent scoring balance, but gave up too many points defensively,” stated Berton Bates, Wolves’ head coach.
The Wolves jumped out to a 16-10 first-quarter lead, and then outscored the Wildcats, 26-15, in the second quarter to take a commanding 40-25 halftime lead. Watford City continued to control the offensive tempo in the second half outscoring North Shore/Plaza, 15-13, in the third quarter with both teams netting 15 points in the final eight minutes of play.
Dani Bates had a double-double for the Wolves with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Jayme Johnson ended the game with 11 points.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was Brianna Allex and Alexis Sanford with eight points each, Sadie Kieson and Marti Quale with four points each, while Charlie Hystad netted two points.
For the game, the Wolves connected on 24 field goals, three three-pointers, and were good on 15 of 24 at the free-throw line.
Watford City 16 40 55 72
NSP 10 25 38 53
Beach 58, Watford City 37
In a battle between two of the undefeated teams in Class B girls basketball, Watford City, the No. 7 ranked team in the state, came up on the short side of the scoring column against the Beach Bucs, the No. 1 rated team in North Dakota.
“We turned the ball over 38 times against a very physical Beach team, and we made a lot of mental errors,” stated Berton Bates, Wolves’ head coach. “Beach took us out of our game, but we will learn from this loss and move on.”
In a very close first quarter, which saw both teams feeling each other out, Beach held a 15-9 lead at the end of the quarter, and then upped their lead to 10 points, 26-16, at halftime.
The Bucs started pulling away from the Wolves in the third quarter posting a 38-26 lead going into the final eight minutes of play. In the fourth quarter, Beach outscored the Wolves 20-11 to take the win.
Dani Bates led the Wolves in scoring with 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while McKayla Haugeberg had 10 points, including two three-pointers.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was Jayme Johnson and Sadie Kieson with five points each, Alexis Sanford with four points and Brianna Allex with two points.
Beach 15 26 38 58
Watford City 9 16 26 37