Lady Dogies split opening weekend in Burns

Newcastle High School’s Lady Dogies tipped off their season Friday and Saturday at the Burns Winter Classic. This year, the team was afforded the opportunity to play four games rather than three, which head coach Mike Pederson was pleased about, and then was even more pleased to see his young team pick up two wins when all was said and done.
 
“It wasn’t too bad of a start to the season, and I think the girls even surprised themselves,” Pederson said. “Overall, coming out of the weekend with two wins was pretty good.”
 
The Lady Dogies got their season started against Burns on Friday morning, and for the first two quarters, the two teams were battling with only a point or two separating them. However, in the final 30 seconds of the second quarter, the Lady Broncs threw full court pressure on the Lady Dogies and between forcing turnovers and getting a couple of questionable three-pointers to fall, Burns went on a 10-0 run to take a double digit lead into the locker room. 
 
“I think that rattled the girls quite a bit,” Pederson said. “But, we came out and did some good things in the second half and other than a couple of minutes in the game, we were in it, and the score doesn’t really reflect how the game went.”
 
The 11-point deficit grew to 15 by the time the final horn blew, however, so Newcastle took their first loss of the season, 35-50.
 
Pine Bluffs was the second match-up of the day for the Lady Dogies, and the Lady Hornets presented some challenges for Pederson’s team. 
 
“They had two or three girls who pushed six feet tall and we didn’t shoot the ball well, which hurt us,” Pederson said. “Inside it was rough for us as well, because they were really good at sealing the backside on skips, and we just didn’t have an answer for them.”
 
The Lady Dogies shot just 17% from the field in the contest, playing a huge part in the team’s 25-50 loss.
 
There was a noticeable difference in the team from Friday to Saturday. The young and inexperienced squad was a little deer-in-the-headlights the first day, but seemed much more confident and ready when they stepped on the court on Saturday morning. 
 
The first opponent of the day was the Arvada, Colorado, team. From the start, the Lady Dogies were dialed in, which showed in every aspect of the game. Shooting and defense was much improved as the team ended the contest scoring 49 points to Arvada’s 14, and Newcastle also stole the ball 18 times throughout the course of the contest. 
 
“I was really proud of the girls because they didn’t play down,” Pederson said. “It would have been easy to ease up on our intensity, but they didn’t. They worked hard and did some good things in that game.”
 
The Lady Dogies were determined to end their first weekend of play with an even record, and they took that attitude into the final match-up of the tournament against Big Horn. The 2A team brought more of a challenge to the court than the Colorado team had earlier in the day, however, Newcastle did not shy away from anything the Lady Rams had to throw at them.
 
Pederson’s squad took control of the game early and never looked back. The final score of the contest was 54-32 in Newcastle’s favor, and it was great shooting that paved the way for the lopsided victory. 
 
The team shot 50% from three, 67% from two and 75% from the free throw line, which any coach would be pleased about. 
 
“They finished well and I’m really proud of them. There were a few who were a little shell shocked to start off, but I was pleased with how they responded,” Pederson said. “The girls needed games to realize what game speed looks like at the varsity level. With several freshmen transitioning from middle school ball to varsity hoops, they needed to see how fast and physical the game really is. They got a taste of that this weekend.” 
 
Pederson recognized rebounding as something his team needs to improve upon. 
 
“The only game where we actually competed regarding rebounding was the Big Horn game,” he admitted. “We should be getting a lot more rebounds than we are, because that means we are giving them second, third and even fourth chances at the basket.” 
 
Scoring for the Lady Dogies was distributed between several players, however, Syd Pederson led her team with 51 points accumulated through the four contests, Jayde Harrington finished with 31 points, while freshman Adalyn Olson added 27. In two of the contests, there were two players in double figures, so those numbers indicate that the team will have a few weapons to choose from over the course of the season. 
 
“It’s great to get those first games under our belts and get a better idea of what we need to work on,” he continued. “It’s so important for the girls to see those things for themselves, so they have a vested interest in what they need to do. The issues we saw over the weekend are all fixable, so that is awesome.”
 
The Lady Dogies will continue their preseason run this week with the annual Stateline Shootout. It will tip off as Newcastle hosts Sundance on Thursday, beginning with JV games at 4 p.m., and then on Friday and Saturday the tournament will take place in Belle Fourche where the Lady Dogies will face Lead on Friday and Belle Fourche on Saturday.