Scotties Advance to Divisionals

The Glasgow Lady Scotties will advance to the Northern B Divisional Tournament the first week in March. The advancement follows a loss and a win this past week in Malta.

In the first round of play, the Lady Scotties met the Malta M-Ettes in the early afternoon of Feb. 21. The Scotties had just come off a win against the same team the week prior and were looking to repeat the effort on Friday. That would not be the outcome the Scotties received though, and Malta would arise victorious by six points in the end.

The first quarter was a virtual horse race with the teams trading baskets to end the quarter with a one-point spread-Scotties 10 and Malta 11. In the second quarter, Glasgow started to unwind and with 10 points to Malta's six, took the lead by three going into the second half. They would hold that lead through the third quarter and enter the final period of play ahead by five-Scotties, 34 and Malta, 29.

It was the fourth quarter that sank the Scotties though. By the end of play they had allowed the M-Ettes 21 points, but scored only 10. That single quarter cost the Scotties the lead and they would end the game with Malta on top with the final score of 50 to 44. By the end of the game the lead had changed seven times and the widest spread in points went to Malta with eight in the fourth quarter, making it an exciting, if not disappointing game, for Scotties fans.

Discussing the game Scottie Coach Travis Nielsen said, "Malta made some shots, we missed some shots, [but] they played very good against us and we may see them again in Divisionals and will have a different game plan for them."

Taylor Pederson led the Scotties in points with 11. She was followed by Anika Peters and Keely Fossum with eight a piece, Tyann Graham carried seven, Abrianna Nielsen had six and Laura Ross rounded off the score with four. The Scotties went 17 for 45 from the floor for a total score ration of 37.8 percent.

The Scotties got their revenge in the consolation finals though. After falling to Malta, the Scotties were set to meet the Wolf Point Wolves to claim third place. That game went to the Scotties by a point-spread of nine and ended Scotties, 39 and Wolf Point, 30.

The game started out with both teams rarely finding the basket. The first quarter ended with both teams racking up a collective eight points. The Scotties had six of those points and the Wolves two. The second quarter was only a little better with the Scotties banking nine points and the Wolves seven to make the score entering the half 15 to nine in the Scotties' favor.

It was the third quarter when the Scotties would break away from the Wolves and do irreparable harm to their chances of beating the Scotties. Glasgow put up 17 total points while simultaneously holding the Wolves to single digits. They would enter the final quarter ahead by 14 points-Scotties 32 and Wolf Point 18. Unwilling to quit, the Wolves began mounting a comeback and managed to outscore the Lady Scotties in that final period of play by five points, but it was too little too late for the Wolves. The final score would be in Glasgow's favor, 39-30.

Nielsen and Pederson would lead the team with 10 points each. They were followed by Peters with eight, Daley Aune with five, Graham with three, Blaire Westby with two and Fossum with a single point. Once the Scotties claimed the lead they never surrendered it and their largest point spread was 34 to 18 in the fourth quarter.

Coach Nielsen stated, "Wolf Point played a real good tournament and our defense stepped up and we played overall really well. Just looking at the stats we rebounded good and our turnovers were down. Divisionals are going to be tough, they have a lot of good teams coming out of the 1B and we will just have to prep ourselves and be ready for them."

The girls Northern B Divisional will be Thursday, March 5, through Saturday, March 7, in Shelby.