Lady Spartans Take Care Of Ball In Billings

The Scobey Lady Spartans went hooping in the Magic City last week and competed in the Montana State University-Billings Team Tournament.

“We had a strong showing for the first tournament, finishing with a 3-2 record in a highly competitive division,” wrote coach Dionne Nieskens.

Scobey (3-2, 201-170, 40.2-34.0) opened against an always good and competive Malta team, topping the MEttes 42-29. Kayla Carney led the team in scoring with 14 points and McKenna Nieskens also hit double figures with 10. Following were Emery Rouse with 8 points, Chloe Handran 5, Brooke Trower 2 and Ava Stentoft 2. The Spartans committed just seven turnovers!

Saturday’s action saw the Spartans playing three games, starting with a 50-37 loss to Denton-Geyser-Stanford- Geraldine Bearcats, the Montana High School Association’s defending Class C state champ. Carney and Handran reached doublefigure scoring with 10 each while Nieskens scored 9, Rouse 4 and Tenley Allestad and Stentoft 2 each. Scobey had 8 turnovers.

The second game on Saturday saw the Spartans defeating Billings Senior 4528. Handran dumped in 18 points with Rouse joining her in double-digit scoring with 12. Nieskens added 7 points, Carney6andHalleCromwell 2. The Spartans had a dozen turnovers.

In their final contest Saturday Scobey lost a tight one to Williston, N.D. by a 33-30 count. Rouse led in scoring with 10 markers followed by Carney and Handran with 6 each, Cromwell 4 and Nieskens and Stentoft 2 apiece. The turnover count? Just six for the game, which is an extremely good number!

Scobey’s final matchup on Sunday was a bout against Sheridan, Wyoming, racing to a big 27-10 advantage by halftime. In the end the Spartans were 47-30 winners. Handran had the hot hand with four 3-point field goals and finished with 20 markers. Following her in the scoring department were Rouse with 9, Carney and Stentoft with 4 apiece, Nieskens and Trower each with 3 and Allestad and Cromwell both with 2-point field goals. Scobey had its second 6-turnover contest in a row!

Also on the team getting playing time but not scoring were Emerson Fladager and Nikki Rush.

Perhaps the most significant statistic of the weekend for the Lady Spartans wasn’t so much their overall record in five games but how they protected the basketball. In other words: minimal turnovers. They committed 7 against Malta, 8 in the DGSG contest, a dozen versus Billings Senior, 6 when facing Williston and 6 against Sheridan. Add all the turnovers together and one will get 39 in five games, which is an outstanding 7.8 per outing!