McKenzie County Farmer - Sports

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

Watford City’s varsity girls basketball team wrapped up its regular season play this past week on a very strong note as the Wolves knocked off Parshall, Bowman and Dickinson Trinity.
“We played three games in four days which should get us ready for the district and regional tournaments,” stated John Zenz, Wolves’ head coach. “All three opponents had winning records so we were tested each night.”
The Wolves, who are 17-2 on the season, will now be entering the District 15 Girls Basketball Tournament. The tournament, which will be held at the Northern Lights Building in New Town, begins on Friday, Feb. 24 and concludes on Monday, Feb. 27.
Watford City, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, will take on the White Shield Warriors, the No. 7 seed, at 4 p.m. on Thursday in opening round action.

Watford City 79, Parshall 39
Watford City guaranteed their No. 2 seed standing in the upcoming District 15 Tournament with a huge 79-39 win over the Parshall Braves last Tuesday.
Watford City exploded to a 23-11 first quarter lead en route to the easy win. While Parshall would cut the Wolves’ lead to 10 points, 37-27, at halftime, the outcome of the game would never be in question as Watford City outscored the Braves 42-12 in the second half of play.
“The girls really came out in the third quarter and took care of business,” stated Zenz. “We half-court trapped the Braves and forced them into some turnovers and we shot the ball well.”
McKayla Haugeberg led the Wolves with 22 points followed by Brianna Allex and Katie Mogen with 15 points each. Haugeberg also had a team-leading seven rebounds and seven assists.
Also scoring for Watford City was  Sadie Kieson with seven points, Amanda Mogen with six points, Charlie Hystad and Taylor Sparby with four points each, while Fallon Fladeland and Jessica Brown each had three points. Fladeland also led the Wolves with four assists.
Watford City    23    37    62    79
Parshall           11    27    35    39

Watford City 62, Bowman 53
Behind a big first half offensive performance, Watford City was able to withstand a fourth quarter challenge by Bowman to cruise to a 62-53 win over the Bulldogs.
Watford City had defeated Bowman earlier in the season when the Wolves defeated the Bulldogs in the championship game of the Roughrider Tournament.
“We were able to jump out to a 10-point lead after the end of the first quarter, and then stretched the lead to 40-27 at halftime,” stated Zenz. “Then the game turned more into a half-court game the second half and we weren’t able to get out in the open court and the pace slowed.”
McKayla Haugeberg had the hot hand for the Wolves as she burned the nets for 23 points, while ending the game with four steals.
Also scoring in double figures for Watford City was Katie Mogen and Amanda Mogen with 12 points each.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was Brianna Allex with eight points, Sadie Kieson with seven points and Charlie Hystad with two points.
Katie Mogen led the Wolves with nine rebounds, while Hystad was the assist leader with five.
Watford City    23    40    53    62
Bowman          13    27    36    53

Watford City 60, Dickinson Trinity 55
In a rough and ragged game that saw over 60 turnovers and 41 fouls, Watford City’s varsity girls basketball team wrapped up its regular season with a 60-55 win over Dickinson Trinity on Friday evening.
Behind excellent outside shooting by the Titans, who would drain seven three-pointers in the game, Dickinson Trinity would hold a 12-7 first quarter lead. But Watford City stayed true to their inside game as the Wolves would go on a 19-5 scoring run in the second quarter to take a five-point, 26-21, lead into the lockers at halftime.
“We got off to a very slow start,” stated Zenz. “We had way too many turnovers which was a problem for the whole game. It’s never good when you have more turnovers, and that is what we did the first quarter with seven points and 10 turnovers.”
Dickinson opened the second half of play by draining a a pair of three-pointers to take a 27-26 lead. But the Wolves would battle to hold a 42-35 lead going into the final eight minutes of play.
But that lead would soon be challenged again by the Titans.
“After some good Trinity shooting and some ill-advised shots and more turnovers by us, all at once it’s a three-point game with 30 second left,” stated Zenz.
Brianna Allex had a chance to secure the win for the Wolves, but she missed her two free throws. The loose ball on the second missed free throw was tipped out of bounds by a Titan player, and on the inbound pass Dickinson Trinity was forced to foul Jessica Brown.
Brown then iced the win for the Wolves as she drained two free throws to give Watford City the 60-55 victory.
“We played well in some stretches and then not so good in more stretches,” stated Zenz. “We finished the game with a season high 38 turnovers. That definitely is something we need to improve on as post season begins.”
Katie Mogen led the Wolves in scoring with 17 points, while Sadie Kieson and Brianna Allex netted 10 points each in the winning effort.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was McKayla Haugeberg with eight points, Jessica Brown with five points, Amanda Mogen and Charlie Hystad with four points each and Fallon Fladeland with two points.
Haugeberg led the Wolves with seven steals, while she and Allex each had four assists.
Watford City           7    26    42    60
Dickinson Trin.    12    21    35    55