Ladies best Lead in weekend competition

The Lady Dogies competed in their second hoops tournament in as many weeks Thursday, Friday and Saturday as they took on Sundance, Lead-Deadwood and Belle Fourche in the annual Stateline Shootout. Head coach Mike Pederson’s crew had mixed results, losing to the Lady Bulldogs 31-43, decisively defeating the Lady Diggers 58-35, then falling to the Lady Broncs 41-71.
 
“We did some good things this weekend, but we definitely saw some things we still need to work on,” Pederson admitted. “We’ve done pretty well cutting down on our turnovers, but we gave up far too many second chance points because we are not rebounding well.”
 
The Lady Bulldogs presented Newcastle with some problems when Sundance came to town on Thursday, and they definitely attacked the glass more efficiently, which afforded them more than one opportunity on offense.
 
Despite the lopsided rebounding, the two teams went into the locker room at the half with only a two-point differential, with Sundance on top, 20-18. In the fourth quarter Newcastle out-scored the Lady Bulldogs by one, however, it was the third quarter that sealed the deal for Sundance to take the win. In that eight minutes, Sundance out-scored Newcastle 14-5, which was too big of a deficit for Pederson’s team to overcome. 
 
“Sundance is a good team who do little things very well. We had some match-up problems here and there and when we have to play a zone, we’re just not where we need to be yet,” Pederson said. “In every game that we have lost so far that was within reach, what it’s coming down to is that we don’t rebound very well, and we have to make a change with that going forward.”
 
The Lady Dogies also struggled a little with shooting on Thursday, which didn’t help their situation. They had good shot opportunities, but they just couldn’t get them to fall.
 
Two players ended the game in double figures, with freshman Adalyn Olson leading the way with 13 points, while Syd Pederson was close behind with 11. Jayde Harrington and Lillie Morrill each contributed three points to the Lady Dogies’ final tally.
 
On Friday, Newcastle traveled to Belle Fourche where they met up with Lead-Deadwood for the second game of the tournament.
 
In South Dakota, the Newcastle girls  had to adjust to two factors that differ from Wyoming ball as there is a 35-second shot clock to contend with, and the mercy rule is set at 30 points when a running clock is implemented, as opposed to 40 points in Wyoming. Pederson noted that the shot clock wasn’t all that impactful for his team.
 
“We only had a couple of times all weekend where we ran the clock down to under 10 seconds before we put up a shot,” he said. “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it because I didn’t want that added pressure on the girls. We play a pretty fast game, so I really wasn’t too concerned that the clock would be a problem for us.” 
 
Shooting was much improved against the Lady Diggers. After shooting only 24% overall against the Lady Bulldogs, Newcastle went 46% overall on Friday. 
 
Julie Morris got her team started from three-point land when she hit the first shot of the game from the corner on Newcastle’s first possession.
 
“Julie kind of set the tone and we fed off of that for the rest of the game,” Pederson said. “We also got up and down the floor better and just had a lot more energy.”
 
Newcastle transitioned well and really moved the ball well, opening up some great shot opportunities, and the Lady Dogies won the rebounding game against the Lady Diggers, which was huge in limiting the number of offensive opportunities for Lead.
 
Newcastle’s dominance was established early and often as Pederson’s squad out-scored the Lady Diggers in every quarter, 14-11, 12-6, 13-9 and 19-9, as they cruised to their 23-point victory.
 
Three players finished the contest in double figures. Pederson led the way with 16 points, Harrington picked up a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Olson finished with 12 points. Brooklyn Benshoof scored 6 points, Delainey Dresen had 5, Morris ended with 3, while Christine Swentesky rounded out the scoring with 2 points. 
 
In the final contest on Saturday, Belle Fourche proved to be the toughest challenge of the weekend, and perhaps the season so far, for the Lady Dogies.
 
“It’s not that it was a match-up nightmare for us,” Pederson said. “We were out-sized, but I really feel like it was more of an issue of effort and we lacked a sense of urgency.” 
 
Despite shooting relatively well, the Lady Dogies only managed to pull down 18 rebounds in the contest, which Pederson identified as being the difference in the game. 
 
“We gave up way too many second chance points and they took advantage of the extra opportunities,” Pederson said. “But that game was good for us by showing us where we really need to work. The good news is that the problems I’m seeing are all things that we can get fixed.” 
 
Pederson led her team with 18 points, Harrington and Benshoof each had 6, Olson added 4 points, Morrill had 3 while Dresen and Kyndal Von Eye each chipped in 2 points each.  
 
Newcastle will host the Lady Panthers of Wright Thursday before heading into the Christmas break with the junior varsity game beginning at 3:30. 
 
“They are kind of in the same boat as we are, but they should be a good match-up for us,” Pederson said. “If we can push our pace both offensively and defensively, it should be good for us.”