January 4, 2012

Wolves edge Bottineau 50-46

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

Watford City pulled off a 50-46 win over Bottineau last Thursday as the Wolves improved their season record to 5-1.
This week, the Wolves will host Beulah at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 7 before closing out the week’s schedule when they travel to Tioga on Tuesday.

Watford City 50, Bottineau 46
McKayla Haugeberg and Brianna Allex provided the one-two scoring punch that Watford City needed to edge the Bottineau Stars in varsity girls basketball action last Thursday. Haugeberg paced the Wolves in scoring with 19 points, while Allex netted 16 points in the win.
The Wolves trailed the Stars by two points, 15-13, at the end of the first quarter before posting a 29-27 halftime lead.
“The girls were able to get to the free-throw line more than the Bottineau Stars, and that proved to be the difference in the game,” stated John Zenz, Wolves’ head coach. “We outscored Bottineau by eight points at the free-throw line.”
For the game, the Wolves shot 15 of 21 at the charity stripe and Zenz was happy to see the team’s improvement at the line.
“Free-throw shooting is an area where we have been struggling so far this season,” stated Zenz. “So it  was good to see us make those in the clutch.”
But according to Zenz, Watford City is still struggling with turnovers and is hopeful that the team will be able to handle the ball better as the season progresses. Against Bottineau, the Wolves had 25 turnovers.
In the second half of the game, the Wolves led the Stars by four points, 42-38, at the end of the third quarter and then hung on to take the win.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Charlie Hystad with six points, Sadie Kieson with five points, while Katie Mogen ended the game with four points.
Hystad led the team with six rebounds, while Haugeberg and Allex had six steals each.

Watford City    13    29    42    50
Bottineau         15    27    38    46

WATFORD CITY WEATHER