Offensive woes plague Lady Dogies
The bus trip to Rawlins is never fun, and for the Lady Dogies, their contest against the Lady Outlaws Friday didn’t make the 10-hour round trip any better. The recent offensive drought that has plagued head coach Mike Pederson’s crew continued to derail the squad, leading to the 20-54 conference loss.
“It was just one of those days where nothing wanted to work,” Pederson said, with a sigh. “It’s a long bus ride, and it’s a pretty challenging environment to play in, but no matter what, you have to show up to compete in every game. You can’t let circumstances get the best of you.”
The stage was set after the first quarter of play as the Lady Dogies were only able to put one point on the board versus 15 by Rawlins. The team had opportunities offensively, but just were not able to capitalize on those.
“They (Rawlins) play great defense, which we knew they were going to do, but we just couldn’t find a shot, couldn’t find any rhythm on offense, and our shooting was not good,” Pederson said.
At the half, Newcastle was down 28-5. Each quarter got progressively better with the Lady Dogies scoring seven in the third and eight in the fourth, however, the Lady Outlaws tossed in 26 in the second half to continue to grow their lead.
After having a couple of games where the team shot well from the perimeter, the Lady Dogies struggled on Friday, going only 1-14 from beyond the arc. In total, the Lady Dogies only attempted 32 shots from the field, and connected on seven of those. From the charity stripe, they went 5-11 for an overall shooting percentage of 23%.
“We were a little sluggish on defense, not really closing out, and they used that to their advantage,” Pederson said. “We also really need to cut down our turnovers, because those are really hurting us.”
Rebounding was also an issue, with the team pulling down only three offensive boards and 10 on the defensive end. Affording Rawlins extra attempts under the basket, coupled with committing 29 turnovers — giving the Outlaws that many more offensive opportunities — made it difficult for Newcastle to slow their opponent down, while also sacrificing their own time of possession.
“Going forward, we really need to focus on the consistency piece that we’ve talked about all year, and get back to going out to compete in every quarter of every game,” Pederson said. “You don’t get to take a day off in this conference, but getting back to full strength will also help us.”
Pederson is hoping to get his team back on track this week as they prepare for rematches against the Lady Herders in Glenrock on Thursday and the Lady Bison of Buffalo at home on Saturday.
Subvarsity tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday with varsity action expected to get under way at 2:30.
