February 29, 2012

Watford girls move on to Region 8 Tournament

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

After rolling over the White Shield Warriors 90-18 in the opening round of the District 15 Tournament in New Town last Friday, Watford City’s varsity girls basketball team looked like it would be a cake walk to the District title game.
But Parshall pulled off the upset of the tournament as the Braves upended the heavily-favored Wolves 53-50 on Friday evening. With the loss, the Wolves’ post season playoff hopes hinged on their ability to post a win over Stanley in loser-out action on Monday afternoon.
And Watford City responded to the challenge in a big way as the Wolves defeated the Blue Jays 57-45 to punch their ticket to the Region 8 Tournament as the No. 3 seed. The Wolves, who are 19-3 on the season, will play Divide County at 4 p.m. on Monday, March 5 in opening round action of the Region 8 Tournament at the Northern Lights Building in New Town.

District 15 Tournament
First Round
Watford City 90, White Shield 18

Watford City’s opening round action of the District 15 Tournament turned out to be a blowout as the Wolves cruised to an easy 90-18 win over the White Shield Warriors.
The Wolves, who were the No. 2 seed going into the tournament, jumped out to a commanding 32-2 first quarter lead over the Warriors, who had played a junior varsity schedule this year.
The Warriors posed no threat to Watford City’s offense and the Wolves’ defense held White Shield to just two points in the second quarter before giving up 14 points in the third quarter. In the final eight minutes of play, Watford City’s stingy defense didn’t allow White Shield to score.
Watford City had three players score in double figures with McKayla Haugeberg leading the way for the Wolves with 21 points, while Katie Mogen and Brianna Allex netted  19 and 11 points, respectively, in the easy win.
With the outcome of the game never in question, John Zenz, Wolves’ head coach, was able to freely substitute throughout the game giving his bench players a chance to get into the scoring column.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Charlie Hystad with eight points, Jessica Brown with seven points,  Sadie Kieson and Amanda Mogen with six points each, Fallon Fladeland with five points, Taylor Sparby with four points, Tasha Bailey with two points and Jeanna Zenz with one point.
Watford City    32    50    76    90
White Shiel     d    2    4    18    18

District 15 Tournament
Quarterfinals
Parshall 53, Watford City 50

It was definitely a very different game for Watford City as the Wolves took on the Parshall Braves in quarterfinal action of the District 15 Tournament on Friday evening.
A week earlier, Watford City had blasted the Braves by 40 points en route to a very comfortable 79-39 win to secure the No. 2 seed in the district tournament.
But in Saturday’s quarterfinal game, Watford City never found an offensive rhythm and had trouble controlling the ball. Whether it was a case of the Wolves overlooking the Braves or just a very bad night of basketball, the end product was the same as the Braves guaranteed themselves a trip to the Region 8 Tournament with a 53-50 win over Watford City.
The game started out very much in a typical Watford City style with the Wolves jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead. But shortly after that things began to fall apart for Watford City as Parshall would close out the first stanza holding an 11-8 lead.
And it didn’t get any better for Watford City in the next two quarters as turnovers and missed scoring opportunities plagued the Wolves. Parshall led the Wolves 29-21 at halftime and by seven points, 37-30, going into the final eight minutes of play.
But all of the miscues didn’t belong just to Watford City as the two teams combined for over 60 turnovers in the game.
Watford City began its comeback drive in the fourth quarter as the Wolves were able to deadlock the game and then take a brief lead with just under three minutes left in the fourth quarter.
But again poor shooting by Watford City in the final minutes gave the Braves the win.
Katie Mogen and McKayla Haugeberg paced the Wolves in scoring with 13 and 11 points each, while  Amanda Mogen ended the game with eight points.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Sadie Kieson with six points, Brianna Allex and Charlie Hystad with five points each and Jessica Brown with two points.
For the game, the Wolves shot 33 percent from the field, hitting on 19 of 56 attempts, and were good on 12 of 27 shots at the charity stripe.
Parshall         11    29    37    53
Watford City    8    21    30    50


District 15 Tournament
Loser-Out Round
Watford City 57, Stanley 45

It was “win or die” for Watford City as the Wolves took on the Stanley Blue Jays in loser-out action of the District 15 Tournament on Monday afternoon.
And with a 57-45 win over the Blue Jays, Watford City kept its post season playoff dreams alive as the Wolves will now advance as the No. 3 seed from District 15 to the upcoming Region 8 Tournament.
While Watford City struggled in Saturday’s quarterfinal game against Parshall, the Wolves rebounded from only their third loss of the season with a resounding and decisive win over the Blue Jays.
Katie Mogen and Brianna Allex had the hot hands for the Wolves as the pair combined for 37 of Watford City’s 57 points. Mogen ended the game with a team high 19 points, while Allex netted 18 points in the win.
The Wolves got off to a slow start trailing Stanley 15-14 at the end of the first quarter, but quickly got their offense on track in the second quarter as Watford City outscored Stanley 18-10 to post a 32-25 halftime lead.
Watford City turned up its offensive tempo to start the third quarter and the Wolves’ fast paced game forced several Blue Jays turnovers enabling the Wolves to up their lead to 11 points, 46-35, with under two minutes in the quarter.
While the Blue Jays would make a couple of runs at the Wolves in the fourth quarter, Stanley would get no closer than eight points in the final eight minutes of play.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was McKayla Haugeberg and Charlie Hystad with six points each, Jessica Brown with four points, while Sadie Kieson and Fallon Fladeland would end the game with two points each.
Watford City    14    32    48    57
Stanley             15    25    38    45

WATFORD CITY WEATHER