Broncs no match for Dogies

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
Revenge is best served cold, and thanks to a Lady Dogie team on fire in a polar vortex, the Lady Broncs of Burns were repaid three-fold for the five-point defeat they handed Newcastle back in December. 
The journey down to Burns on Friday was fraught with challenges and ultimately took the squad five and a half hours, however, the Lady Dogies felt a little better about their time on the bus when they walked away with a 50-35 win.
“It was the day that never ended,” laughed head coach Chad Ostenson. “It began at 9:30 in the morning, involved a total of three busses, and ended at 1:30 on Saturday morning.”
Subzero temperatures were tough on Weston County School District No. 1 busses as they lost the first one to a breakdown at Mule Creek where the decision was made to send the subvarstiy players home and continue on to Burns with both varsity teams on one bus. Then, on the return trip, that bus broke down at Lusk so Niobrara County loaned the teams one of theirs for the rest of the journey home.
With the delay, the Newcastle bus didn’t arrive at their destination until 3 p.m., which was when the girls’ game was scheduled to begin. Ostenson was asked how much time his team needed, and he asked for 30 minutes — just enough time for the girls to get changed and get warmed up.
“I was a little concerned, and interested to see whether the trip down was going to adversely affect the girls,” Ostenson admitted. “We did start a little sluggish, but it didn’t take us long to get up and running. I was pretty proud of how they shook that off.”
It didn’t take long for Newcastle to put any residual lethargy behind them as they closed out the first quarter with a 10-3 lead. 
At the mid-game break the Lady Dogies had extended their lead to eight points, but then as the second half got under way, Burns was able to go on an 8-3 run to pull within three points. 
That seemed to light a fire under Ostenson’s crew as they proceeded to outscore the Lady Broncs 16-9 by the end of the third.
“Defensively, we played pretty well and did some pretty good things,” Ostenson ruminated. “We didn’t shoot great from the outside, but we did hit some timely threes.”
The Lady Dogies were only 4-20 from beyond the arc, but Shelby Tidyman was dialed
in hitting two for six from three-point land while Mercedes Voelker and Hunter McFarland were able to connect on one apiece. 
In the fourth, Newcastle built up a 20-point lead so Ostenson took the starting five out with about two minutes to play after which the Broncs’ starters were able to pull within 15 by the time the final buzzer blew.
After losing to the southeast quadrant team in the first weekend of the season, Ostenson and his crew were pleased to see the growth they’ve experienced since Dec. 12. 
Newcastle was in control for most of the contest, with only one or two little runs by Burns. However, Ostenson insisted that no lead is comfortable against a team like that who is athletic and is capable of knocking down some threes.
The Lady Dogies out-rebounded the Broncs 42-28 but Burns, with an impressive pressure defense, turned Newcastle over 20 times to their 17.
“They are a pretty athletic and scrappy bunch,” Ostenson admitted. “They picked up our one-guard with full court defense the entire game, and they caused some problems for us on defense.”
Jaylen Ostenson led her team with 22 points, Tidyman also finished in double digits with 13, McFarland and Tiernan Stanton each added six and Voelker ended the night with three.
This week, the Lady Dogies are on the road again with a contest against Thermopolis on Thursday and one against Buffalo on Saturday for Northeast Quadrant rematches. Currently, Newcastle has the No. 2 seed with wins against both of these teams, and only a loss to Douglas. Two more wins against the Lady Bobcats and Bison will cement that seeding for the upcoming Regional tournament.
Game time is 3 p.m. for JV and 4:30 for varsity on Thursday, and 1 and 2:30 on Saturday.