Basketball Recap from Montana
Both NDSCS Women's and Men's Basketball teams split this weekend on the road where they played at Dawson CC on Sunday, and at Miles CC on Monday.
The women played the first game on Sunday at Dawson where they battled a tough Buccaneers team. The game was tied up at halftime and Dawson came out swinging in the third quarter putting the 'Cats in an 11 point deficit going into the fourth. The Wildcats fought all the way back to bring it within three in the final minutes, but couldn't fully close the distance falling 70-73. The Wildcats were led by Maggie Westling who had 24 points and 13 rebounds along with Lolo Carlow with 17 points and Ava Boyes with 13.
The men took on Dawson after the women and saw a Buccaneers team shoot 64.7% from the field on the game. The Wildcats trailed 44-65 heading into the half and ended up falling by a score of 89-110. The Wildcats were led by Cham Okey with 22 points while Luke Christensen added 17 points and seven rebounds.
The Wildcat women bounced back on Monday against Miles which saw a career night for the Wildcats' All-American Maggie Westling. Westling had a career high 41 points and tied her career high of 22 rebounds in the contest. Lolo Carlow set a career high in assists with 10. Ava Boyes set her career high with 23 points as well. The Wildcats got good production from Ezrah Baker who had six points, six rebounds, and five assists. The Wildcats used a huge third quarter to build the lead up to 20 going into the fourth quarter where Miles fought until the end and the Wildcats came away with an 81-70 victory to move to 15-3 (3-1 Mon-Dak).
The Wildcat men played a hard-fought 40 minute battle with the Pioneers that came down to the very last shot of the game. NDSCS was down one point with about 15 seconds in the game on defense when John Angau forced a turnover in the backcourt giving the 'Cats the ball back with a chance to win. The Wildcats' Nidas Paulauskas got into the paint forcing the defense with him right before he made the kick out to Cham Okey who hit the dagger three with one second left in the game. Miles attempted a full court pass that was deflected away giving the Wildcats the thrilling 77-75 win. The 'Cats were led by Jikany Deang with 20 points and Okey with 14 points and 12 rebounds. The win puts the NDSCS men at 16-3 (3-1 Mon-Dak) on the year.
The men will travel to Jamestown on Wednesday to take on the Jimmies JV squad. Both men and women will be at home against Dakota College at Bottineau on Sunday with the women starting at 1 and the men at 3.
