Scottie Ballers Beat Poplar

The Scottie boys and girls basketball teams played a combination of four games over the last week meeting up with Poplar on their home court on Jan. 2 before heading to Glendive on Jan. 4 to take on the Red Devils. Both the Scottie boys and girls teams defeated Poplar in two games decided by 10 or less points.

The Scotties did not fair so well against the Red Devils, however, as both teams lost although by different margins. The boys fell to Glendive 72 to 50 in what could only be described as a blowout. The girls held on to take their match up against the Lady Red Devils into overtime but failed to clinch the win falling 52 to 49.

Against Poplar the Lady Scotties came out early to claim the lead and held it throughout the game. In the first quarter the Scotties led by nine points (16 to 7). The gave up some of that lead in the second quarter scoring only seven points compared to Poplar's 11 to end the half up by five (23 to 18). In the third quarter the Scottie girls were again outscored by Poplar, scoring only 10 points to Poplar's 14 and bringing the game to a one-point game (33 to 32). The Scotties rallied in the fourth quarter though doubling the Poplar Indians' nine points by scoring 18 and winning with a final score of 51 to 41.

"Both games were hard fought games," said Scottie girls head coach Travis Nielsen. "We learn a lot playing tough games like that and hope to keep it going."

Leading the team to victory were Anika Peters with a total of 19 points, Tyann Graham with 10 points and Keely Fossum with eight. Peters put up nine baskets for 18 total points and drained one of two free throws. She was also the most consistent, scoring no less than four and no more than six points in each quarter. While Peters was scoring on the inside, Graham was scoring on the outside by scoring nine of her 10 points from beyond the perimeter along with a single free throw scored out of two attempts. Fossum drained two thirds of her free-throw attempts by draining four out of six from the line. Those free throw scores also made up 50 percent of her overall eight points - the other four having been scored inside the perimeter.

The Scottie boys had a harder battle ahead of them against the Poplar boys. The first quarter saw only 10 points total split between the two teams. The Scotties held Poplar to only two points but managed to put the ball through the hoop four times in the interim making the score eight to two at the end of the first. In the second quarter the Scotties failed to keep pace with the Indians who scored 13 points compared to eight by the Scotties. The Scotties held onto the lead though, going into the second half up by one (16 to 15).

It was the third quarter that got the Poplar crowd on their feet, however, as the Indians put up 18 to the Scotties' 13 and claimed the lead by four (33 to 29). Poplar held onto that lead until there was only 2:05 remaining in the fourth quarter when the Scotties would drain a three to make the game 44 to 41. The remaining two minutes were anything but kind to the Indians as by the time the game ended the Scotties had scored eight more points compared to the Indians three for a final score of 52 to 44.

Discussing the Poplar game Scottie boys head coach Paul Yoakam said, "We had a hard time getting into any type of rhythm against their zone. Our 1-3-1 trap carried us at the end and gave us our first conference win. It was nice to see the boys play through a lot of frustrations and still come away with a win."

Leading the Scotties in points was the big guy underneath the basket, Keigan Skolrud, with 19 total points. Of those, 16 were baskets inside the perimeter and three were from the free-throw line - from which Skolrud sank three of five for a 60 percent completion rate. Also scoring double digits for the Scotties was Kobe Sibley with 12 points. Sibley managed two from the perimeter and two from the inside but only managed to make two of five from the free-throw line. Alec Boland rounded off the top scorers for the Scotties with 11 points. He drained four from inside the perimeter and made three of four from the free-throw line.

Against Glendive the game had a much different outcome. Discussing the 22-point loss (72 to 50), coach Yoakam praised his players but said the team could not contend with Glendive's accuracy from the outside. "Glendive shot lights out," explained the coach. "They connected on 15 three pointers. Keigan Skolrud had an incredible night with 28 points and has continued his improvement all season. We will continue to focus on our team culture as we move into more district play the next few weeks. I expect the intensity of our play to increase every time we step on the floor."

Putting points on the board in Glendive were Keigan Skolrud with 28, Vinnie Chappell with seven, Alec Boland with six, Kobe Sibley with three, Trevor Klind with three and Bergen Miller with four.