Scottie BBall Teams Play Three Away Last Week

The Scottie boys and girls basketball teams hit the road last week to play three games against the North Country Mavericks on Dec. 12 in Saco before heading to Red Lodge to play the Red Lodge Rams on Dec. 13 and the Columbus Cougars on Dec. 14.

The Scottie girls claimed victories in all three games finishing 52 to 41 against the Mavs, 59 to 39 against the Rams and 46 to 43 against the Cougars.

Box scores and stats were not available from the Scottie/North Country game on Dec. 12. In Red Lodge on Dec. 13, the teams' scorers were Keely Fossum with 15 for the Scotties. Fossum was followed up by Anika Peters with 5; Abrianna Nielsen putting up 3; Taylor Peterson scored 11; Blaire Westby banked 7; Alexys Mann put up 2; Daley Aune drained 4; Laura Ross scored 10 and Riley Noser put three on the board for the Scotties' 20-point win against the Rams.

Against Columbus on Dec. 14 the Scotties pulled off a win in a tight match up that never saw a quarter close with more than a five point spread between the two teams. The Scotties went from down by one in the first quarter to take the lead and keep it in the second quarter. They closed out the half ahead by one point. In the third the Scotties pulled further ahead to lead by five at the end of that period. The Scotties would go on to hold that lead and win by three (46-43) in the end against the Columbus Cougars.

"Our girls basketball team played good this last weekend," said girls head coach Travis Nielsen. "For the start of the season, our defense is right where I thought it would be and we'll be looking to improve on it. We are looking to push the ball and keep the defense intense. We are going to be fixing and helping to improve on the little things throughout this week."

The Scottie girls play again this Friday, Dec. 20 against the Eagles in Sidney.

The Scottie boys did not fair as well against the Mavericks, who proved adept at the free throw line, with the final score in the Mavs' favor 52 to 44. The Scottie boys won their Friday the thirteenth match up against the Rams, however, with a final score of 58 to 57, but then lost again on Saturday to the Cougars, 65 to 47.

In Saco on Dec. 12, Kobe Sibley led the team in points with 14. Alec Boland scored 12 for the Scotties followed by Tim Wageman with 10 then Keigan Skolrud with four points and Vincent Chappel with two. Despite staying with the Mavericks for much of the game, the North Country boys pulled ahead at the end hitting a long run of free throws.

"We were a little tentative in our first game of the season. I feel like we played pretty tight the whole game," said boys coach Paul Yoakam commenting on the Scottie verse Mavericks game. "We put a lot of kids on the floor with limited varsity experience. We struggled to get comfortable in our new system, but a lot of that is expected with so many changes. It was nice to see the upperclassmen step up and carry us through it."

In Red Lodge on Dec. 13, Alec Boland led the team with 24 points, Kobe Sibley followed with 13, Keigan Skolrud with 11, Saul Hansen with 10 and Hunter Collinsworth put up two for the Scotties against the Rams to eke out a win by one point in overtime.

"Red Lodge was a much bigger, more physical team than us. We came out a little hesitant and only put up 14 points in the first half," said Yoakam. "The kids did a great job in the second half with the adjustments we made defensively at half time and were a lot more aggressive on the offensive end. We played them close in the third quarter and cut the lead to nine and made an extended run in the fourth quarter to push it into overtime with Skolrud's buzzer beater. It was great to see this team take control early in overtime and hold onto the lead the rest of the way."

On Dec. 14 against Columbus, the Scotties' top scorers were Alec Boland 14, Keigan Skolrud 10, Kobe Sibley 9, Saul Hansen 6, Tim Wageman 5 and Vincent Chappell 3. Yoakam caveated that the Columbus match up was the third game in as many days for the Scottie boys and they kept up in the first half. The Scottie boys closed out the second quarter behind by five points (27-22). They reclaimed ground against the Cougars in the third quarter cutting the lead down to two points. Going into the fourth quarter, however, it would not be enough to keep up and the Scotties fell by 18 points to lose 47 to 65.

"We could definitely tell it was their third game in as many days towards the end of the game and it got away from us at the end," said Yoakam.

He went on to finish highlighting the high points of the weekend and what the team took away from the courts in Saco and Red Lodge. "It was a great weekend for us," he said. "We were able to gain a lot of varsity experience for some of our juniors. The boys looked a lot more comfortable in the new system by the end of the weekend, and I see them improving a lot as the season goes on. Class A Sidney comes to town on Friday and I'm looking forward to a really competitive game.

The Scottie boys play again this Friday, Dec. 21 against the Eagles in Sidney.