Lady Dogies ready to hoop it up

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
 
Coming off of a sixth-place finish in the 3A State Tournament last season, Newcastle High School’s head ladies’ basketball coach Chad Ostenson is looking to build upon his team’s success as they prepare to make another run at the title in March.
“We lost the consolation championship in overtime to Wheatland,” he reminisced. “But it was great to get three games and just to have the experience so that we have that under our belts for this year.”
The Lady Dogies return three starters to the squad, however they will have to fill some pretty big shoes with the loss of Mercedes Voelker, who was a threat from beyond the arc, and Claire Beastrom who was a defensive machine on the court.
“We will definitely miss those girls, not only for what they brought to the court, but also for the depth they gave us,” Ostenson began. “But we also have some girls who are showing that they are ready to step up to fill those roles.”
The biggest challenge for Ostenson this season will be depth, as only 14 ladies are out for this season. As such, there will be no freshman squad, and the likelihood of running a full JV contest throughout the season is questionable. 
“Unfortunately we are thin this year,” said Ostenson. “We have one senior, five juniors, three sophomores and five freshmen. We’re getting in shape so we can play a lot of minutes each night, and we’ll have to have some younger girls learn some things pretty fast so that they are ready to go.”
Junior Jaylen Ostenson returns as the team’s leading scorer and rebounder. As a third-year starter, Ostenson is coming in with 768 career points and 345 career boards. Shelby Tidyman, also a junior, is the Lady Dogies second leading scorer having amassed 309 points in two years of play. She is also the third leading rebounder with 178 and leads the team in assists with 129. 
Tiernan Stanton is a returning junior starter who has scored 127 points so far in her career, and has used her 6-foot, 2-inch frame to pull down 220 rebounds and block 43 shots over the course of 38 games.
Junior MacKenzie Conzelman is one whom Ostenson is looking to step into Voelker’s shoes as an outside shooter. A quick draw, Conzelman has scored 131 points, many of which came from beyond the arc.
Ostenson is also looking to junior Hunter McFarland to escalate her role on the court this season. With a quick first step, much like Beastrom, McFarland has the potential to be a threat from the outside as well as having a knack for getting the jump on her defender to attack the rim.
Senior Bailey Benshoof and sophomore Jayde Harrington are poised to join the five juniors on varsity and provide much needed defensive pressure and rebounding presence on the inside. The two are coming into the season with very little varsity experience, but Ostenson is pleased with what he has seen from them so far in practice.
“I have been really pleased with how practice has gone so far,” he said. “We don’t have many, but the ones we do have are all in and working hard to get ready for our first game. We have a good group of kids again who are pretty tight already.”
Sophomores Victoria Pehringer and Amesha Cummings, along with freshmen Julie Morris, Ruth Rose, Savannah Carr, Carmila Malone, and Hailey Beastrom, make up the remainder of the Lady Dogies and will man the junior varsity squad.
“We’ll have a few younger kids having to go through a baptism by fire. For the freshmen, it’s a big jump to go from playing middle school ball to playing 3A junior varsity, but they are just going to have to dive in the deep end and learn how to swim,” Ostenson posited. “I think they have already started to adjust to the speed. It’s a little overwhelming for them, but I feel like they are coming along pretty well.”
As per usual, the 3A East Conference will be tough. Even Douglas, who lost four huge players last year, had a couple move in to add to the team so they will be right in the mix of the top teams. Torrington will be tough, bringing back most of their players, while Buffalo will be scrappy and athletic. Wheatland also lost a few players but have a strong junior class returning to the court. Rawlins will be scrappy, and Thermopolis will also have some talent. There’s no team that can be overlooked and it will be up to the Lady Dogies to be playing their best every time they step on the court.
“If we can stay healthy and play like we’re capable, it could be a fun year and I’m just really excited,” Ostenson said. “This summer we played with seven and played a lot of games in a row so they should be used to it. We will also be bringing up some of the other younger kids to get them experience because we are going to need more depth. There are a couple that are coming up that have some pretty good potential to be ready to go.”
The Lady Dogies will tip off their season this weekend at the Burns Invitational on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, they open things up with the 2A Pine Bluffs Lady Hornets. On Saturday
they will face off against the
1A Southeast Cyclones, then finish it up against the 3A Burns Lady Broncs.