Summer ball
Summertime seems to be devoted to baseball and soccer world cup, but if you know, you know that summer can still find some quality high school basketball being played.
Thank goodness for technology, because due to awesome streaming on the part of a couple of different entities, I was able to watch both the Montana-Wyoming All Star girls’ basketball game in June in which our own Jaylen Ostenson played, then got to watch Ostenson, Shelby Tidyman and MacKenzie Conzelman play in the Wyoming All Star game in June. In addition, Lady Dogie head coach Chad Ostenson, along with Mickey Crabtree, coached the team of the North All Stars as they took the 77-69 win over the South All Star team.
Watching the 2023 senior girls basketball team throughout the last four years has been an absolute pleasure, and in my 20-something career in Dogie sports, this group of athletes has been one of my favorites.
Therefore, getting to watch three of the four starters play in the All Star game in July was so fun to reminisce of their wonderful past seasons.
It was also great to see those players and Coach Ostenson and Coach Crabtree show up and show out for Newcastle as the North led the entire game — except for a tiny, brief moment in the first minutes of the contest when the South was able to take a 3-2 lead.
As it should be, the South made a valiant effort in the final minutes of the contest to close the gap to six, but the North — with the leadership of Lady Dogie athletes — held on to take the win.
Between points, steals, rebounds and assists, the three Lady Dogies did Newcastle High School and Newcastle proud as they represented their alma mater.
Ostenson ended the game leading the North with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 5 assists, Tidyman finished with 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals, while Conzelman contributed 1 three-pointer, 1 rebound, 3 steals and 3 assists.
Brooke Wright of Douglas and Sage Bradshaw of Lyman were strong for the South, and both were definitely All Stars for the 3A Lady Cats and Lady Eagles throughout the last couple of seasons, but the North had too much for the South to handle.
It was a great ending to great careers for those seniors, and for Coaches Ostenson and Crabtree to have three Lady Dogie players and two coaches show what little Newcastle High is capable of doing.
All five of those all stars have moved on, and will all be missed.
Ostenson won the Pepsi Player of the Game, which, in my opinion, is well deserved. She led the Wyoming All Stars in both the North and South game and in the second game of the Wyoming-Montana contests. She was the second leading scorer in the first of those contests, only by 2 points. I’m personally excited to watch what she does next season as she suits up for the Yellow Jackets of Black Hills State University. She is one of the best basketball players I’ve ever watched over the course of my years as a girl’s high school basketball sports enthusiast.
I’m also excited to watch the collegiate career of Conzelman as she suits up for the Blue Devils of Dickinson State University. “Mack the Gun” was the most prolific three-point shooter that Newcastle has ever known, and finished her career eighth in the state for most baskets made in a single season in the history of Wyoming basketball.
As we usher in a new era of Lady Dogie basketball, I’m excited to see how the new roster lives up to the legacy these players and coaches have left to be carried on.
