Lady Wolves go 2-1 in non-region games
Titus Stenberg
Farmer Sports Writer
Watford City 60, Stanley 27
The Wolves played their most dominant game of the season so far against the visiting Blue Jays who play in Region 3. Watford City scored the first 15 points of the game, and got above 40 points before Stanley got into double digits. Annabelle Bohn helped the Wolves with the fast start, scoring 10 points in the first quarter. “We wanted to challenge them with a press and see if we could force some turnovers,” said Watford City head coach, Tom Dwyer. “Stanley struggled in the first quarter with our press and it helped us get some high quality shots.” The strategy was effective as the Wolves totaled up 33 points off of 34 Stanley turnovers.
“It was nice to see Bailey Mattson shooting well and make some threes,” said Coach Dwyer. “And very impressive to see Annabelle get nine steals.” Mattson filled the stat sheet going 9-for-18 from the field, including 4-of-7 on three-pointers. She pulled down seven rebounds, had six deflections, five steals, and a block. Bohn led the Wolves with four assists, while both Harlee Jacobson and Amelia Wisness added three. Fallon Sampsel had a team-high 10 rebounds, with four of them on the offensive glass.
1 2 3 4 Final
Watford City 24 17 10 9 60
Stanley 3 4 16 4 27
Watford City scoring: Bailey Mattson, 22; Annabelle Bohn, 13; Adi Schaff, 9; Lohgan Hanna, 8; Fallon Sampsel, 4; Mylee Rhone, 2; Harlee Jacobson, 2
Watford City 49, Four Winds-Minnewaukan 43
For the second consecutive year, Watford City took part in the Devils Lake Division A Girls Basketball Shootout. The event welcomes 10 teams representing all four regions in the middle class of high school girls basketball.
On Friday night, the Wolves earned their third win in a row with a six-point victory over Region 2’s Four Winds-Minnewaukan (FWM). The Wolves continued their good defensive play, a constant during their win streak. “Four winds sets a lot of ball screens,” explained Coach Dwyer. “They have some very talented guards that can do a good job of attacking those ball screens. If you switch though, they can do a good job of reversing the ball quickly and passing inside to a post who might have a mismatch on them. I think we did a good job of containing their guards, having good help-side defense, and rotating quickly when needed. We did a good job of rebounding too.”
Four Winds-Minnewaukan has been hurt with injuries all year, but did get their outstanding freshman, Suri Gourd, back for the first game in two weeks. She led the Lady Indians with 12 points. The game was close throughout, and both teams went on runs. Watford City’s largest lead of the first half was 13-9. FW-M went on a 9-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 18-13. Watford City then scored the final six points of the first half and extended the lead to eight by scoring the first seven of the second half. That 26-18 lead would be the largest of the game.
“We struggled on offense,” said Coach Dwyer. “We did do some good things but just didn’t shoot very well. I don’t have the stats to the game yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in the low 30’s for FG percent. We missed a lot of layups and missed some threes. We were terrible from the free throw line. That being said, we did some good things. But clearly we have some things we need to focus on in practice and we’ll get better.”
Watford City once again proved they can win in crunch time as FW-M took a 41-40 lead in the fourth quarter. Watford City closed the game on a 9-2 run and won the game with lock-down defense. The Wolves finished the game 11-of-27 on free throws (41 percent), and they won the turnover battle, forcing 27 while giving up 18. Adi Schaff led the Wolves with 13 points and had nine rebounds with three assists. Fallon Sampsel also had nine rebounds. Bailey Mattson had seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Annabelle Bohn finished with five rebounds, four steals and three assists.
1 2 3 4 Final
Watford City 7 12 19 11 49
FWM 9 9 16 9 43
Watford City scoring: Adi Schaff, 13; Harlee Jacobson, 9; Fallon Sampsel, 8; Bailey Mattson, 7; Annabelle Bohn, 6; Lohgan Hanna, 5; Amelia Wisness, 1
No. 2 Devils Lake 72, Watford City 46
On Saturday afternoon, Watford City went up against the defending state champion Devils Lake Firebirds. The Wolves kept it close for the entire first quarter and much of the first half before the Firebirds went on one of their extended, defensive-fueled runs that they’ve been known for.
“They’re very talented on both sides of the ball,” said Coach Dwyer. They are one of the best offensive transition teams I’ve seen this year. They push the ball ahead and do a great job of getting good shots quickly. They share the ball well and usually have balanced scoring. I think their biggest identity may be all the presses they have on defense. They have five or six defenses they run and can switch it up frequently throughout the game. They’re very aggressive on defense and aren’t afraid to get physical. They play a lot of players so they don’t seem too concerned about getting into foul trouble. They play hard and force teams to be aware and mentally tough throughout the entire game.”
Devils Lake has their sights set on another state title, and were extra motivated facing the Wolves on Saturday, after suffering their first loss of the season on Friday to Kindred, 58-53. Devils Lake played 13 players against Watford City, with 10 of them scoring at least two points. They were missing one of their regular players due to injury.
“I was happy with how we handled the ball and didn’t turnover the ball much in the first quarter,” said Coach Dwyer. “We did have some stretches where we struggled with their press.” The Wolves kept the turnover margin close, committing 29 while forcing Devils Lake into 24 turnovers.
“I was happy with our defense. Fallon Sampsel stuck out as she seemed to make a bunch of plays and get quite a few steals. We again missed some layups that I wish we would have made. It’s very challenging to beat a team like Devils Lake without capitalizing when you get numbers and can make a layup. Again, we have to focus on layups and free throws. But I was happy with our effort and I think we are starting to come together more as a team. We still have a lot of work to do and there’s a lot of room for improvement but I can see the potential and know we just needed to do a couple things better and we would have been in this game,” said Coach Dwyer.
The Wolves made six 3-pointers in this one with four of them coming from junior Lohgan Hanna. Sampsel, Hanna, Bailey Mattson and Adi Schaff all pulled down five rebounds apiece. Watford City’s record stands at 6-5 after this game.
1 2 3 4 Final
Watford City 7 10 16 13 46
Devils Lake 10 27 18 17 72
Watford City scoring: Lohgan Hanna, 14; Adi Schaff, 12; Fallon Sampsel, 8; Harlee Jacobson, 7; Annabelle Bohn, 3; Mylee Rhone, 2
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