Lady Dogies dominate Bobcats and Bison

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
What’s better than opening up Northeast quadrant play with a win? Turning around and making it two wins in a row, leaving no doubt who was the better team in the process.
The Lady Dogies hosted the Thermopolis Lady Bobcats on Friday, handing them a 55-35 loss and then came back on Saturday and took it to the Lady Bison of Buffalo, defeating them 61-36.
“It was a fun weekend and we played pretty well,” grinned head coach Chad Ostenson. “We still have a lot of work to do but it was great to open up quadrant play like that, so I’ll take it.”
Through the course of the two contests, the Lady Dogies got contributions from quite a few different players. Against Thermopolis on Friday there were three different players in double figures, and aside from Jaylen Ostenson, who dropped 28 points in the game, the scoring came from players outside the usual suspects as Shelby Tidyman and MacKenzie Conzelman each contributed 10 points to the team’s overall total. 
“That was great to have a little more balanced scoring, and having Shelby get back to where she was using her opportunities to put some points on the board,” Ostenson nodded. “She had a really good weekend both offensively and defensively.” 
Tidyman scored 10 against the Bobcats and nine against the Bison, hitting one and two threes in each game respectively. She also took very good care of the basketball and distributed the ball well, ending Saturday’s contest with eight assists. 
In both contests, the Lady Dogies started out solidly and really never had a let down. Up until last weekend the squad had a tendency to fall into a lull in one quarter of play, but that was not the case in either game.
Conzelman sort of arrived against Rawlins, and she proved it was not a fluke against Thermopolis. The sophomore came off the bench and lit a spark for her team once again as a threat from beyond the arc and taking the ball to the rack.
“It’s nice to be able to bring a kid off the bench and know she’s not going to miss a beat, and that whole crew coming in off the bench are so important to us,” Ostenson nodded. “Mack stepping in and doing the job she’s been doing for the last few games has been so great.”
The squad did much better this weekend in both rebounding and turnovers. They out-rebounded the Lady Bobcats by eight and only had 11 turnovers to their 22. Buffalo got the better of them on the boards, but only by five, however Newcastle won the turnover game 18-26. 
Dogie fans have been holding their breath and they could finally exhale on Saturday afternoon as Mercedes Voelker resurrected her three-point shooting acumen in the Buffalo game, hitting four of eight attempts from beyond the arc. 
“That was huge, and that took a game that was a 10-point contest and turned it into a 27-point differential at one point in the game,” Ostenson smiled. “Hitting four in a row is also demoralizing for the opponent and really boosts the rest of
her team. They’ve all been waiting for her, and everyone just feeds off of it. Mack is starting to get that leadership thing going too, but when Mercedes gets going the whole team really feeds off that.”
After Voelker hit the first two, the rest of the game seemed to pick up as well. The defense intensity was heightened and other shooters gained confidence as well. The squad ended the night with nine three-pointers in the books.
This weekend was also the first time the squad has been able to play against a team who plays man-to-man defense against them, and they took advantage of it.
“Things look pretty good when we get to run our man offense,” Ostenson admitted. “We put in a new wrinkle to our five-out by moving Tiernan [Stanton] inside in the post position, and that works pretty nice to have a place to dump if teams are going to double and help.”
Thermopolis is a team that shoots even more threes than Newcastle, and Ostenson admitted that he was a little nervous about that going into the contest. 
“We played pretty good defense so that slowed them down from outside,” he stated. “And then we have kids who can handle the ball and drive to the hoop, and then when we kick it out we have kids who can knock it down from the outside which also boosts our defensive play.”
The third quarter against Buffalo was huge with girls being dialed in from beyond the arc and really taking it to them out-scoring them 22-8.
“Right now if we can keep moving forward, I like where we’re headed, and it’s fun when some of the things we’ve been working on shows in a game,” Ostenson nodded. “Kids are starting to settle in and are gaining the confidence that they belong on the varsity floor.” 
All eight that played throughout the game scored against Buffalo with Jaylen Ostenson once again leading the way with 24 points. Voelker was next with 12, all coming from beyond the arc. Shelby Tidyman finished with nine while Conzelman, Stanton and Hunter McFarland each had four apiece. Claire Beastrom chipped in three and Shawnee Miles rounded out the scoring with two points.  
This week, Douglas comes to town Friday for another Northeast quadrant matchup, and then Newcastle will travel to Wheatland on Saturday to take on the Lady Bulldogs. Douglas is the unanimous choice for the No. 1 team in the state, and Wheatland currently leads the Southeast quadrant in the standings.
“Wheatland is a team that is up and down but they have a couple of good athletes who can shoot the ball pretty well,” Ostenson anticipated. “It will be interesting and we’ll have to go down there and play like we can play, but it will all depend on who shows up.”
“I’m kind of excited to see what we can do against Douglas because it’s fun to go up against the best, and Douglas is definitely up there,” he grinned. “They can beat about anybody, but who knows. Pressure is all on them to maintain their dominance and the girls are excited to take them on.”
Friday night’s varsity contest against the Lady Bearcats will begin at 5:30.