Dogies earn postseason honors

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The 2019-2020 season ended abruptly just as the 3A/4A State Tournament got under way, however, coaches did get the opportunity to hold meetings to determine which athletes were deserving of postseason recognition.
In order to be eligible for All-State honors, athletes must be selected to the All-Conference teams first, and Newcastle got two athletes named to the team. Dylon Tidyman and Jaylen Ostenson received the nod to be a part of the elite at the 3A East Regional Tournament in Newcastle two weeks ago. Both players were also named to the 3A All State team a week ago at the all-too-brief state tournament.
In addition, though they didn’t quite make the cut, Zach Purviance, Mercedes Voelker, Shelby Tidyman and Ally Cass each received Honorable Mention to the All-Conference teams.
All but one Dogie who received postseason honors will be returning to the court next year for their respective teams.
Lady Dogie head coach Chad Ostenson was also named the 3A East Coach of the Year. 
 
The Men
Dylon Tidyman, who claimed his third All-Conference nod, was an unanimous decision among the coaches at the meeting, and taking a look at his numbers, it’s no surprise.
“Everyone and their dog knew who they had to gear their defense toward and it was Dylon,” head coach Allen Von Eye said with a smile. “Even with all that attention, he still accomplished some pretty impressive numbers averaging almost a double double through the season with 17.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.”
Tidyman led the Dogies in every category but three-point percentage and finished the season third in scoring in both the state in the East conference, first in the conference and second in the state in rebounding, and first in the conference and second in the state in steals, averaging three per game. He was seventh in the conference in blocks averaging .6 per game and 10th in the conference in free throw percentage, shooting 71% on the season. He finished with 326 points, 170 rebounds, went 58-82 from the charity stripe and 26-96 from beyond the arc. 
Tidyman also was selected to the All-State team for the second time in his career.
“With all the craziness at the state tournament we still managed to have the All-State selection meeting,” Von Eye admitted. “I was a little bit worried because I think the West was considerably better than the East this year. As such, the East only got five players on the all-state team and Dylon was among those five.” 
“So that’s a huge honor but very well deserved,” he continued. “He was our second or third highest vote getter, so there is some mutual respect there, and something also to be very proud of.” 
Purviance received Honorable Mention to the All-Conference team, and according to Von Eye, the junior really picked up his play this year and started becoming much more comfortable showing what he could do as the conference season got under way. 
“While I would have loved for Zach to get the nod, when you only win three basketball games in a season, it’s pretty difficult to get two individuals named to the team,” Von Eye stated. “I think he was very deserving of Honorable Mention at the very least, because he did show a lot of our conference teams what he is capable of doing toward the end of the season. It was a good honor for him.”
Purviance finished the season eighth in 3A East Conference in blocks with .5 per game and led the Dogies in three-point shooting percentage with 30%. He hit 22 of 74 attempts from beyond the arc and had 161 points on the year. 
“It was awesome for those guys to get the recognition, even though we haven’t been able to physically give them their awards yet,” Von Eye chuckled.
 
The Ladies
As a very young and balanced team, the Lady Dogies ended with only one player being selected to the All-Conference team. Jaylen Ostenson was among a very small contingent of freshman players who got the nod for the honor.
“I was happy with what we got, because we’re probably about a year out on most of them,” coach Ostenson began. “Jaylen’s numbers probably gave her a leg up on other players.”
Ostenson finished her debut season fifth in the conference and eighth in the state in scoring averaging 13.7 points per game, and she finished the year leading her team with a total of 302 points. She was third in the conference and sixth in the state in rebounding averaging 8.2 per game. She also finished eighth in the conference and eighth in the state in both blocks and free throw percentage. In addition, she led the Lady Dogies in every stat with the exception of assists and three-point percentage.
These numbers also gave Ostenson what she needed to be named to the 3A All-State team.
Voelker, Shelby Tidyman and Cass each received enough attention at the All-Conference meeting to be awarded Honorable Mention to the team.
“Those that didn’t make the cut was probably due to the fact that we have so many who are capable of doing some pretty good things on the court on any given night,” Ostenson mused. “One may have had a good night against one team, and another a good night against another team and so on, so that may have been part of the reason. That is the beauty of us as a team though, because not everyone had to have a good night each night.”
Tidyman started the season performing well with assists, but she lost a couple of games due to suffering a partially dislocated shoulder in Wheatland about mid-way through the season. The freshman still ended up sixth in the conference and 10th in the state in assists, averaging 2.5 per game. She was the team leader in that statistic, and scored 146 points on the season averaging 7.3 points per game. 
Voelker’s games are memorable because when she’s on, she’s electrifying with her three-point shooting capabilities. She was fourth in the East, and eighth in the state in 3 point shooting percentage, hitting 43 of 129 from beyond the arc, scoring 150 points on the season and averaging 6.8 points per game. She also had a single game performance of going six for nine from three point land in the Lady Dogies win against Wheatland in the opening contest of the Regional Tournament. 
Cass was a difference maker in a couple of the postseason matchups the Lady Dogies played in, including their one and only game at the state tournament, and she finished the season with 149 points, averaging 7.1 per game. 
“I’m tickled that we got those three an honorable mention, because it is a nice bunch of awards for the team,” Ostenson smiled. “I think that coaches look for consistency when voting for the kids, and with so many of our players capable of standing out on any given night, they just didn’t have the numbers coaches were looking for, especially given their youth.”
 
The Coach
Ostenson was also named the 3A East Coach of the Year for the Absaraka Conference.
“It was a surprise, but talking to people, I think it came about as a result of where we started and where we ended the year,” he nodded. “The kids had come a long way, but it really wasn’t anything we did. They started off young and they grew a lot during the year, and we just kept getting better. Our record wasn’t all that stellar with a 6-12 record going into the state tournament, so I was really happy with what we were able to accomplish in the year.”