Scotties Trample Wolves on Senior Night

It was the last night on the Scottie gymnasium floor for four Scottie seniors-Keely Fossum, Anika Peters, Laura Ross and Taylor Pederson-and they made it count.

Facing off against the Wolf Point Wolves on Feb. 13, the Lady Scotties launched an all out assault on the hoop, scoring 18 in the first quarter, 14 in the second, 12 in the third and 27 in the final round. The Scotties managed to hold the Wolves as well and they ended the game ahead by 31 points-71 to 40.

Unwilling to make their last showing in front of a home crowd a dud, the four seniors led the team in points, with Peters scoring a whopping 24, Pederson scoring 17, Fossum racking up nine and Ross rounding off the total with seven points. In the end, the four girls would score 57 of the team's 71, and they would play nearly the entire game, at least until the end, when they would pass the mantle onto the up and coming Scottie players, while up by 30-plus points with only two minutes to go. They were sent off by the ruckus home crowd with a standing ovation and a lot of smiles as they watched their opponent fall.

Tyann Graham would put up four for the Scotties alongside Daley Aune and Blaire Westby, while Abrianna Nielsen contributed two points.

The following day, Feb. 14, the Lady Scotties made their way to Malta and completed a similar performance against the M-Ettes to sweeten up their Valentine's Day in 2020. The Scotties managed an early lead and held on throughout. In the first quarter they pulled ahead, thanks to a pair of three-point shots by Fossum, to end the first quarter up by eight-13 to 5. Then in the second, the M-Ettes managed to hold the Scotties to six points while scoring nine and enter the half with momentum on their side. This momentum would be short lived, and the Lady Scotties would recapture the initiative to lead the M-Ettes in scoring 14 to six in the third, entering the final quarter up 33 to 20.

Instead of points in the fourth quarter, both teams were scoring on defensive efforts. The M-Ettes held the Scotties to an eight-point quarter which-down at the beginning by only 13-might have been enough to recover and even win the game. It was not meant to be, though, and the Scotties managed to keep the M-Ettes to a single basket in the fourth. They ended the game ahead by 19 points-41 to 22.

"We had two big conference games last week," explained head coach Travis Nielsen. "The girls played really good competing against Wolf Point and Malta. Our defense played very well and on the offense we did move the ball and get good looks at the basket."

The Lady Scotties will return to Malta on Thursday, Feb. 20, for the District Tournament, which will run through Saturday, Feb. 22. If successful at Districts the team will advance to the Northern B Divisional Tournament the following week, again, in Malta.