Ladies make a splash

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
Dogie fans have been waiting for it, and their patience was rewarded as the Splash Sisters showed up on Friday night. 
Jaylen Ostenson and Shelby Tidyman — the younger sisters of Splash Brothers Cade Ostenson and Dylon Tidyman — finally gave fans what they’ve been waiting for and between the two, scored more than the entire team of the Burns Lady Broncs.
The Lady Dogies are a young team full of talent, but there’s just something poetic about these two proving that the little sister can be as good as the big brother. 
Head coach (and Jaylen’s dad) Chad Ostenson was understandably happy with the two players’ offensive performance, but he was also quick to note that his whole team contributed to the
49-43 win over the southeast quadrant Lady Broncs.
“Jaylen and Shelby put up enough points themselves to beat them, but we had kids come in and do some really good things that just didn’t show up on the stats,” he began. “We got really good minutes from everyone who took the floor, and every player came in and did exactly what we needed them to do.”
The Lady Dogies had a bit of a slow start, finishing the first quarter down 5-10, but in the second frame they kicked things into gear and outscored Burns 11-4 to take a two point lead into the locker room. 
“We struggled a little at first, and we had too many turnovers,” Ostenson admitted. “But in the second half, we did some really good things.”
While the third quarter has proven to be challenging for Newcastle, no one would have suspected it as the team came out strong and nearly doubled their first half point to finish it up 30-25 over the Lady Broncs.
But Burns was not about to roll over. In an action packed fourth quarter, the Lady Dogies poured in 19 points, many of those coming from the charity stripe to pick up their fourth win of the season, and their second win against a 3A East opponent.
“Burns is a scrappy team and they play hard. We did a nice job of staying in it and finishing strong,” Ostenson nodded. “We shot free throws pretty well down the stretch which was very important.”
MacKenzie Conzelman added three points to the squad’s score, while Ally Cass and Tiernan Stanton each added one.
On Saturday, the Chadron Lady Cardinals came to town with a daunting 19-2 record on the season. Not only have they proven they know how to win, but they also towered over Newcastle in a couple of vital positions.
However, the Lady Dogies didn’t seem phased by their talent, height or 1-3-1 half court defense in the first two quarters of play. Newcastle was down one at the end of the first, but went on a 16-11 run in the second to go into the locker room up 25-21.
Chadron made some adjustments during the half time break and the Lady Dogies got a little nervous about the Lady Cardinals’ defense, and as a result Newcastle didn’t even get a shot off until less than a minute left in the third quarter when Jaylen Ostenson drove to the rack and drew a foul. She hit one of her two free throws to put up the one point her team scored in those eight minutes of play. 
Meanwhile, Chadron scored 24 points so took a 45-26 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the final eight minutes of the contest, the Lady Dogies outscored the Lady Cardinals 17-12, but the hole they had dug for themselves was just too deep and they dropped the game 43-57.
“I was really happy with how we played in all but the third quarter,” Ostenson declared. “We really outplayed them for three quarters, and we played well against their 1-3-1 zone defense which is tough to do.”
Scoring was spread out a little wider in this contest. Ostenson led her team with 13 points, and she was followed by Mercedes Voelker who hit three threes for nine, Cass had eight, Tidyman put in six, Shawnee Miles scored five, and Conzelman added two to round out the scoring for the team.
“Chadron is probably the second best team we’ve played against this year,” Ostenson admitted. “They have one of the best players I’ve seen and just really play well defensively and in putting up points. But, we outplayed them for three quarters and that’s awesome to see.”
The Lady Dogies will be back in Northeast quadrant action this weekend as they travel to take on the Lady Bobcats in Thermopolis on Friday and then host the Buffalo Lady Bison on Saturday. Last time these teams met, Newcastle took the win against Thermopolis and dropped the contest against Buffalo, and Ostenson admitted that this is a big weekend for seeding purposes for the Regional tournament coming up in a couple of weeks.
“If we can take care of business there and at home with Buffalo, the number two seed is still out there and it would give us the opportunity to grab it,” Ostenson stated. “Thermop is playing well and is getting better as the year goes on, and though Buffalo has lost another key player, Michelle [Dahlberg] will have her team ready to go because she always does. It’s certainly doable for us to get both, but also doable for us to end up on the short end of each as well, so it’s a huge weekend for us.”