February 27, 2013

Girls end regular cage season with three wins

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

The Watford City varsity girls basketball team closed out its regular season play picking up wins over Parshall, Bowman and Dickinson Trinity to head into the District 15 Tournament with a 17-2 record.
The Wolves are the No. 2 seed and will receive a first round bye in the upcoming tournament, which gets underway on Friday, March 1 at the Northern Lights Building in New Town. Watford City’s first action in the tournament will be at 7 p.m. in the semifinals on Saturday when they take on the winner of the Parshall vs. Mandaree game.

Watford City 68, Parshall 53
It was a big night for the Watford City girls basketball team last Tuesday night as the Wolves secured the No. 2 spot in the District 15 Tournament with a 68-53 win over the Parshall Braves. But the win was made even more special as Watford City’s senior point guard McKayla Haugeberg netted her 1,000th career point in the final minute of play.
“We started kind of sluggish against Parshall,” stated John Zenz, Wolves’ head coach. “We got behind in the first quarter but were able to come back strong in the next two quarters.”
The Wolves trailed the Braves, 9-8, at the end of the first quarter of play but went on a 23-14 second quarter scoring spree to open up a 23-14 halftime advantage.
Watford City seemingly had Parshall on the ropes in the third quarter as the Wolves increased their lead to 17 points, 49-32, at the end of the quarter.
But Parshall would make the final eight minutes of play exciting as the Braves cut the Wolves’ lead to just four points before Watford City took control of the game in the final minutes to slam the door on any comeback.
Haugeberg had a break-out game for the Wolves as she netted a game high 24 points, while also leading the team with 13 rebounds, nine assists and seven steals. Also scoring in double figures for Watford City was  Katie Mogen who ended the game with 20 points on 10 of 15 shooting from the field.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Jessica Brown with eight points, Madison Brown and Amanda Mogen with four points each, while Ricki Lindley, Sadie Kieson and Alyssa Prichard ended the game with two points each.    
Watford City    8    31    49    68
Parshall            9    23    32    53


Watford City 72, Bowman 37
Bowman was able to stay close to Watford City for the first half of play, but the second half was a completely different matter as the Wolves crushed the Bulldogs 72-37 last Thursday.
“Bowman was able to stay with us for the first half,” stated John Zenz, Wolves’ head coach. “But we made some defensive adjustments in the second half that allowed us to get some easy buckets.”
The Wolves led the Bulldogs 22-14 at the end of the first quarter and by 10 points, 38-28, at halftime.
The second half belonged entirely to the Wolves as Watford City went on a 25-6 scoring spree in the third quarter and then coasted to the easy win.
“The girls really played well defensively in the second half, shutting down Bowman,” stated Zenz.
McKayla Haugeberg shot the lights out for the Wolves as she drained six of seven three-pointers en route to a game high 28 points, while also dishing off eight assists and coming up with five steals.
Katie Mogen joined Haugeberg in double-digit scoring for Watford City as she netted 14 points, while leading the team with eight rebounds.
Also scoring for the Wolves was Amanda Mogen with nine points, Ricki Lindley with six points, Sadie Kieson with five points, Jessica Brown and Lea Arndt with four  points each, while Kara Langerud had two points.
Watford City    22    38    63    72
Bowman          14    28    34    37


Watford City 66, Dickinson Trinity 38
Watford City closed out its regular season action with a resounding 66-38 win over the Dickinson Trinity Titans last Friday evening.
“We got off to a great start and the girls were clicking on all cylinders,” stated John Zenz, Wolves’ head coach. “Our press was working, and we were able to get some easy buckets off turnovers. Plus, we were able to get Trinity into some foul trouble and then converted from the free- throw line.”
The Titans never knew what hit them as the Wolves blew the game wide open in the first quarter as Watford City outscored Dickinson Trinity 27-3.
And it didn’t get any better for the Titans in the remainder of the game as the Wolves extended their lead to 35 points, 47-12, at halftime and then held Dickinson Trinity to just two points in the third quarter.
“It was about the best half of basketball that the girls played all season long,” stated Zenz.
McKayla Haugeberg had a double-double for the Wolves as she netted a game high 22 points, while coming up with 10 steals and six assists. Joining her in double-digit scoring was Katie Mogen who netted 20 points.
Also scoring for the Wolves was Amanda Mogen with eight points, Jessica Brown with seven points, Ricki Lindley with four points, Kara Langerud and Sadie Kieson with two points each, and Madison Brown with one point.
Katie Mogen and Madison Brown led the Wolves with six rebounds each.
Watford City      27    47    55    66
Dickinson Trin.    3    12    14    38

WATFORD CITY WEATHER