Ladies go 1-1 in quadrant play

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
When you’re hot, you’re hot — but when you’re not, you’re not. 
The Lady Dogies experienced this cliché last weekend as they opened up quadrant play with a dominating win over the Lady Bobcats of Thermopolis, but then couldn’t find the bottom of the net in their Saturday matchup against the Lady Bison in Buffalo. 
“We really looked good on Friday,” head coach Chad Ostenson nodded. “We came out strong and dominated them from start to finish, which was great to see.”
Ostenson made some tweaks to the offense having Shelby Tidyman and Jaylen Ostenson switch up their roles to where Ostenson took over the point guard position. According to Coach Ostenson, the change enabled Tidyman to use her speed up the sideline and gave Ostenson a target up the court.
The Lady Dogies’ defensive game was tough, and their performance on the offensive end of the court was on point as well. 
“We did a great job of attacking the rack and finishing shots on the inside,” Ostenson nodded. “It also helped that we were hot from the perimeter.
Indeed the ladies had the hot hand. In the first few minutes of the game, Mercedes Voelker and Ostenson each knocked down their first attempts from beyond the arc, and the team finished the night shooting 50% from downtown hitting eight of their 16 attempts.
Newcastle shot 57% on the night including three-point, two-point and free-throw attempts, which is a great performance by anyone’s standards. At the same time, their defensive effort limited Thermopolis to only 36% on the night. In addition, the Lady Dogies achieved their goal of out rebounding their opponent for the first time this season pulling down eight more boards than the Bobcats.
“This was really our best looking game from start to finish,” Ostenson nodded. “We took care of the ball, only turning it over 18 times which is decent for our style of play, and our flow was a lot better than it’s been.”
Jaylen Ostenson had her best game of the season earning her first double double, scoring 23 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. The freshman also filled up every category on the stat sheet with two assists, three steals and one block. 
“Jay looked a lot better, and she went hard to the hoop and finished well underneath,” Coach Ostenson smiled. “All the young kids are starting to figure out how to play at the faster, more physical speed of 3A varsity ball.”
Seven other Lady Dogies contributed to the scoreboard on the night. Ally Cass added 12 points including timely free throws down the stretch, Voelker and Tidyman each added six, Madi Pearson and Shawnee Miles each had four, while Claire Beastrom and MacKenzie Conzelman added two apiece.
“We got some great minutes off the bench, and that was key to the game in my opinion,” Ostenson claimed. “Shawnee had her best weekend of the year. Claire and Mack did some great things. Sara Sweet had a great game too, coming in and playing some great defense. She got rebounds and took a charge as well.”
“I was really happy to see those kids come in off the bench and work themselves seamlessly into the lineup,” he continued. “We need to continue to develop our bench and get the depth that we need to play the kind of game we want to play.”
Unfortunately, the temperature cooled dramatically when it came to scoring on Saturday in Buffalo. The ladies’ defensive game was still where it needed to be as they held the Lady Bison to only 37 points, but they were only able to muster 27 of their own on the night.
“Offensively, that was the worst performance we’ve had this year,” Ostenson sighed. “We were still rushing just a tad, and as good as we were on Friday from the outside, we weren’t on Saturday.”
The Lady Dogies’ shooting percentage dropped to only 21%, and though they held Buffalo to only 32%, it’s tough to win when you struggle to score.
“Buffalo is a tough place to play and get a win,” Ostenson explained. “But, if we had made our free throws, we wouldn’t have had to foul at the end which would make it a different game.”
Ostenson once again led her team in scoring with 14 points, but only Voelker, Cass and Tidyman were able to get on the board to contribute to the team’s total.
With the loss against Buffalo, the Lady Dogies finished the weekend 1-1 in Northeast quadrant play. This Friday, they will finish out the circuit by traveling to Douglas to take on the number one ranked Lady Bearcats, and then will travel to Wheatland on Saturday for a matchup against the Southeast quadrant Lady Bulldogs.
“Douglas is going to be tough. They have all the pieces including a pretty good 6-foot, 4-inch post surrounded by guards who can shoot,” Ostenson admitted. “But, I like where we are right now and we keep getting better every week, which is exactly what we need to do and I’m really excited.”