McKenzie County Farmer - Sports

Titus Stenberg
Farmer Sports Writer

Watford City
Loses to Dickinson
The Wolves began January with a 73-39 home loss against AA opponent Dickinson at the high school gym last Saturday. Dickinson came into the game tied for fifth in the latest Division AA statewide poll. The Wolves enjoyed two different leads early in the first quarter, but were unable to sustain positive momentum once the Midgets started their scoring run.
“We started out with pretty good defense and did some good things,” said Watford City head coach, David Gumke. “But when we have some turnovers and things don’t go our way, we forget that we played good defense just a few possessions earlier. We played more individually than as a team, didn’t move the ball like we did in practice or trust our teammates.”
Dickinson had lost to No. 2 Bismarck Century the day before and were determined to avoid a losing streak. With the win, the Midgets improved to 5-1 on the season and ended their non-conference schedule at 3-0. The loss dropped Watford City to a record of 0-6. “Dickinson ran a very good pressure defense and took our offense out of rhythm. The message in the locker room was that we need to improve,” said Coach Gumke. “It doesn’t matter who we play, if we play like today, we’ll struggle against anybody.” The rest of Watford City’s schedule features opponents from Division A and B, including this week against Stanley and South Heart.
“We need to keep working and learn some lessons along the way. Our improvement will come if we keep working,” said Coach Gumke. Sears Wiredu led the Wolves with four assists, while Carter Breitbach had two steals. Dickinson had 14 different players score and was led by Boston Cranston who scored 13 points.

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