Ladies end hoops season early
Photo courtesy of Robyn Stanton Lady Dogie Julie Morris goes up for a basket, scoring the final two points in the March 1 home varsity game against Buffalo. Morris was sidelined for the majority of her senior basketball season due to a pre-season ACL tear, and this shot sent the crowd to their feet with the Dogie Dome erupting in cheers.
The Lady Dogie hoopsters lived a rerun of their final regular season weekend as they faced off against Buffalo and Glenrock at the 3A East Regional Basketball Tournament in Glenrock. The goal of this post-season tournament is to win two before you lose two, but, unfortunately, Newcastle fell to both teams bringing their season to an early close.
As the sixth seed, head coach Mike Pederson’s crew drew the No. 3-seeded Lady Bison in the opening game of the tournament on Thursday morning. In the 9 a.m. “coffee and donut” contest, the Lady Dogies had a bit of a sleepy start while Buffalo got right after it, finishing quarter one up 19-5 over Newcastle.
Dogie defense came alive in the second quarter and held the Bison to nine points, however, they still struggled on the offensive end of the court and went into the locker room down 10-28 at the half.
Shots started to fall a little better in the second half of play as Newcastle added 18 points to their score, however, their Johnson County opponent also ramped things up by scoring 35 points to take the 63-28 victory when the final buzzer blew.
Newcastle went 50% from the line shooting 4-8, and 43% from two, hitting 6 of 14 shots. The team struggled from beyond the arc, however, finding the bottom of the net only four times in 19 attempts.
Pederson’s crew also committed 27 turnovers, resulting in 28 Lady Bison points.
“We got the looks we wanted offensively, we just didn’t finish well,” Pederson said, with a sigh. “We just had too many turnovers and didn’t take care of the ball very well. That part didn’t help us at all either.”
The loss meant Newcastle once again had the early morning game on Friday where they were challenged with taking on Glenrock on their home court in the vital do-or-die contest.
The Lady Dogies looked good to start the game, getting out to an early lead before the Lady Herders warmed up offensively to take a slim three-point lead at the end of one.
The two squads traded blows in the second quarter, scoring six points apiece with the Herders taking the 18-15 lead into the locker room.
“We had a pretty good first half, especially when I only had one starter on the floor for about five minutes going into the half,” Pederson said. “We survived, but then the third quarter really put us in a bad spot.”
In the third frame of play, Glenrock went to work on both ends of the court to pack on 16 points. Unfortunately, the Lady Dogies ran into a wall on offense, managing only one point of their own. With an 18-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter, the Lady Dogies just had too big of a hole to dig out of in eight minutes. Once again, it was a close quarter on the scoreboard, with Glenrock edging out Newcastle by one point, but still pretty easily claimed the 43-24 victory.
With the second defeat of the weekend, the Lady Dogies saw their season come to an end.
Foul trouble plagued the Lady Dogies with the team accumulating 26 fouls to Glenrock’s eight. Shooting was also a challenge as the team went 1-9 from beyond the arc and only 8-25 from two. A positive from the offensive side of the game came with the Lady Dogies shooting 100% from the charity stripe going 5-5.
Turnovers were a problem as Newcastle once again committed 27, which Glenrock used to score more than 20 points.
“It really came down to the growth factor for us and the maturing piece of the game of taking care of the basketball and finishing shots,” Pederson said. “We play great defense at times, but it is not consistent, so we need to fix that for next year.”
The Lady Dogies didn’t have a single senior suited up this season, so Pederson will return his full roster next year. He also has plans for the off season to address areas of the game to get next season off to a good start.
“We want to get girls in the gym and really work on fundamentals as well as that competitive edge that we need to improve upon,” Pederson said. “We will also be playing in the Rapid City league again and maybe go to a team camp or two.”
Newcastle @ 3A East Regional Tournament in Glenrock 3/6-7/25
Newcastle v. Buffalo 3/6/25: 28-63
Sydney Pederson: 3 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 deflection
Brooklyn Benshoof: 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 deflection
Adayln Olson: 9 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 6 deflections
Delainey Dresen: 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 deflections
Lillie Morrill: 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 deflection
Kyndal Von Eye: 6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
Christine Swentesky: 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 deflection
Newcastle @ Glenrock 3/7/25: 24-43
Sydney Pederson: 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block, 2 deflections
Brooklyn Benshoof: 2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 deflections
Adalyn Olson: 6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 9 deflections
Delainey Dresen: 2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 deflections
Lillie Morrill: 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 deflection
Kyndal Von Eye: 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 deflection
Christine Swentesky: 2 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 1 deflection
Josie Smith: 1 point, 2 rebounds
Emeree Tavegie: 1 steal