Teams Lose Season Opener to DC/S
The 2011-12 high school basketball season got underway on Thursday evening, December 1, when the St. Francis Indians hosted the teams from Dundy County/Stratton High School. DC/S won both varsity contests. St. Francis won the junior varsity boys contest and lost the JV girls game.
In the varsity girls game, St. Francis scored first on a basket by Kaitlin Figgins, but trailed by three (8-11) after one period of play. The Lady Indians fell behind by ten (8-18) with 6:13 left in the second period as the Lady Tigers gained numerous additional shots by crashing the offensive glass effectively. The Lady Indians trailed 18-27 at halftime.
In the third period, the Lady Indians cut the lead to eight at the five minute mark and were playing well. With 3:12 left in the third, Kaitlin Figgins picked up her 4th foul. With Figgins on the bench, the Lady Tigers soon had their way. With 2:25 left in the third, the margin had ballooned to 24-41. The quarter ended with the Lady Indians trailing by nineteen, 26-45.
The Lady Indians made a small run early in the fourth and cut the deficit to 31-47 with 5:31 remaining, but could never recover. The Lady Indians lost to the Lady Tigers 38-59.
The Lady Indians were led in scoring by Kaitlin Figgins with 14 points. Clarice Neitzel scored 9 and Justice Wiley 7. Dundy County/Stratton was led by Morgan Jones with 17, Natatie Kent with 12, and Meg Petersen with 8. The Lady Indians shot 6 of 24 (25%) from the free throw line.
Coach Susan Dinkel made the following comments after the game. "We moved the ball well in the first half, but in the second half, we just were lethargic. We stopped moving the ball quickly and didn't set the best screens. Defensively, we played pretty well. I'm pleased with their overall effort. Dundy County was on fire from the outside and our girls were just a little slow to react. We will work on that during practice this week. I am encouraged...we did some great things, and I feel as though we are going to surprise a few people. We are a pretty young team - both in terms of Varsity playing time and age. Kaitlin is the only one who has had substantial court time prior to this season, with Jenna being injured last year. We will continue to work hard in practice, and I can assure you that we will be a fun group to watch!"
The junior varsity girls contest was played as a three quarter contest due to the limited number of players on the St. Francis roster. The Lady Indians led 10-6 after one quarter of play. The Lady Tigers regained the lead at the four minute mark of the 2nd quarter (15-17) and had opened up a six point margin (15-21) with two minutes left in the half. The halftime score stood at 18-25 Lady Tigers. The Lady Indians trailed by 10 (20-30) with 3 minutes left in the third and final period and lost the contest to the Lady Tigers 27-34.
Coach David Morrow commented on the JV girls game, "Most of the girls on this squad are new to the team this year, so it was exciting to see what they would bring to the table. In a word, I was pleased with how they performed. Against Dundy County, we had girls running the floor, getting steals, and generally playing some tough basketball. By the end of the contest, we had some chances to close in on the Tigers but couldn’t get our shots to fall."
"We were able to get to the free-throw line a lot against Dundy County, which shows that we were taking chances and trying to create some offense. Unfortunately, we made only 11 of our 26 attempts."
"I’m excited to see how this team develops. Though we’re a young team, we’re pretty athletic and instinctive. Some of these kids seem to have a knack for knowing where the ball is going to be and stealing it on defense. Our next game will not be until December 13, the week after the Brewster tournament."
Scoring in the JV girls game were: Kyla Bandel, 10; McKayla Taylor, 4; Aubrey Mills, 3; Aly Schlepp, 3; and Justice Wiley, 7.
The varsity boys game was contested at a high pace with great effort from both squads. The Dundy County/Stratton Tigers opened up a quick five point lead early in the contest before Mason Schiltz scored the first points for the Indians on a lay-in. The Indians trailed 4-14 with 4:51 left in the first period. Both teams then had trouble scoring for several minutes, and the score remained 8-15 for nearly four minutes. The first quarter closed with the Indians trailing 9-15.
In the second period, the Indians cut the lead to 12-15 on a trey by Wyatt Landenberger off an assist by isaac Schiltz at the 7:16 mark, but with 5:40 to go, the Tigers had earned a 12-21 lead again. The first half closed with the Indians trailing 23-34.
Again the Indians made a small run, cutting the deficit to six (31-37) at the 5:10 mark and then to five (34-39) on a trey by Mason Schiltz with 2:46 left in the third. The Tigers held off the Indians charge and led 35-47 after three periods of play.
The Tigers missed very few shots in the final period, getting many easy shots off the fast-break and using excellent offensive passing. The margin moved to 15 (38-53) at the 7:12 mark and to twenty (44-64) with 4:25 left to play. Dylan Peter fouled out of the game with 3:32 to go. The Indians trailed 47-74 with 2:07 left and lost to a good DC/S team 52-76.
Isaac Schiltz led the Indian scoring with 18 points. Mason Schiltz added 12. Wyatt Landenberger scored 9 and Dylan Peter 8. The Indians were 17 of 35 from the charity stripe.
The Tigers were led in scoring by Joe Rettele with 17. Tyler Freeland added 13, and Scott Rotherham added 15 to the Tiger's point total.
The Indian junior varsity boys won in a close exciting contest. The game was tied after one quarter of play 12-12. The Indians earned a slim one-point lead by the halftime buzzer, 21-20. In the third period, the Indians led by as many as 8, but then the Tigers hit five consecutive three-point shots to earn a 40-45 advantage after three periods. The Tigers made 7 treys in the third period.
The finish was a close one. St. Francis trailed throughout most of the final period but pulled with one, 56-57, in the final moments. Keegan Sherlock was fouled with .9 seconds remaining in the contest. Keegan calmly stepped to the line and made the first free throw to tie the game at 57-all. After three consecutive time outs by Dundy County/Stratton in a attempt to "ice" the shooter, Keegan sank the second shot to give the Indians a 58-57 victory.
The Indians received good balanced scoring in the contest from Cade Bracelin (17), Stephen Nelson (17), Kyler Zweygardt (11), and Keegan Sherlock (10).
The varsity teams will play in the Sagebrush Basketball Tournament on Tuesday in Brewster against Rawlins County. The girls game tips-off at 6:00 PM and will be followed by the boys contest.
Between the varsity games, Dakota Morris and Cassidy Busse were awarded basketballs as participants in the youth basketball program. The basketballs were awarded to them by SFCHS athletes Isaac Schiltz and Kaitlin Figgins.
