Lady Scotties Take Fourth at Div., End Season

The Lady Scotties took on the best of the Northern B Division in Shelby on March 5, 6 and 7. The ballers advanced to take fourth after falling to the Harlem Wildcats. The Scotties ended their season after winning two and losing two in the tournament.

The Scotties kicked off the tournament against the Shelby Coyotes-who would go on to take second in the tournament-on March 5. They got off to a slow start in the first quarter falling behind by 10 and only putting up five points to the Coyotes' 15. In the second, the Scotties kept pace with the Coyotes scoring nine compared to Shelby's 10 and ending the half down by 11.

The Scotties took 23 shots on the basket in the first half-11 of those from behind the three-point line-but they only made six of them (two from the perimeter) for a field goal percentage of 26 percent. The Coyotes took only 22 shots in the first half but made nine of them, to include four of 13 three-pointers, making their average for the half almost 41 percent from the field.

In the third quarter the Scotties slowly outpaced the Coyotes, but they would come out wanting it in the fourth with a rally truly aimed at winning the game. In the third the Scotties scored a mere eight points but managed to hold Shelby to an even lower seven points. They would close the lead slightly and be down by 10 heading into the fourth.

It was the fourth quarter when the Scotties really came out against Shelby and made them work for it. The Scotties would put up 20 points in the final period of play-the first time in the game they broke double digits-and they would hold the Coyotes to 16 (also their highest scoring quarter). But the effort would prove not to be enough to overcome the Coyotes' lead and they would fall by six points after being down by double digits.

Discussing the game with the Courier, head coach Travis Nielsen said, "Shelby came out real strong and we came out kind of slow." He went on to say that the Scotties spent the rest of the game trying to catch up, including a rally to bring the game down to two points, but they finally lost by six after they had to start fouling at the end.

Tyann Graham led the Scotties with nine points followed by Abrianna Nielsen with eight; Anika Peters, Taylor Pederson and Daley Aune all put up five; Blaire Westby put up four; and Keely Fossum and Laura Ross put up three.

Hitting the consolation rounds on day two, the Scotties met up with Choteau on the afternoon of March 6, and the Scotties could not have asked for a better return to the winning rolls. Coming out fast in the first quarter, the Ladies put up 14 points and held the Lady Bulldogs to six points. That momentum would continue in the second quarter as well with the Scotties racking up 16 to Choteau's eight. The Scotties would go into the half with a 16-point lead.

In the third quarter Choteau would come out with a stronger showing then the first half, but they would fail to hold the Scotties with any real consequences. Choteau scored 18 points, but Glasgow put up 15 allowing them to hold onto their lead and end the quarter still up by double digits. The fourth quarter would prove to be much of the same for both teams. Choteau managed to outscore the Scotties once more by banking 20 points, but the Scotties kept pace and put up 16 of their own. The final score would be 61 to 52 in the Scotties' favor.

Coach Nielsen said that the Scotties went into the game with Choteau having never played the Bulldogs and having only watched video of the team playing. "It was challenging to play someone we've never seen before," explained Nielsen.

Abrianna Nielsen led the team in points with 17. She was followed by Taylor Pederson with 16; Tyann Graham with 12; Daley Aune with seven; Laura Ross and Anika Peters both scored four; and rounding off the score sheet for the Scotties was Blaire Westby with one.

The Scotties would meet up with Fairfield on day three of the tournament, and would fight a challenging battle to win by five in the end. Coming out in the first quarter the Scotties got to an early lead and finished the quarter ahead by five points, leading Fairfield 14 to nine. In the second Fairfield would battle a back and forth and outscore the Scotties by two points. Fairfield put up 14 and the Lady Scotties banked 12. The game would end the half with a score of Glasgow 26 to Fairfield's 23.

In the third quarter, the game continued to balance out and the Scotties would hold Fairfield to eight points while putting up 10 of their own making it a five-point game heading into the final period of play. That lead would not change much, despite a back and forth in the fourth quarter, with the Scotties and Fairfield both scoring nine points, ending the game with a five point spread in Glasgow's favor. The final score was 45 to 40.

Keely Fossum would lead the Scotties with 14 points followed by Anika Peters with 10 points; Taylor Pederson racked up eight; Blaire Westby and Abrianna Nielsen banked four; Tyann Graham scored three; and Laura Ross earned two for the Scotties.

The game would send the Scotties into the consolation finals against the Harlem Wildcats-a team that had beat the Scotties twice in the regular season. The girls would play for a shot at the State Tournament and had they earned it, the showing would have been the first time since 1998.

In the end though, the game would not go the Scotties' way. From the beginning, the Wildcats came out strong, took the lead and only worked to expand that lead throughout the game. In the first quarter, Harlem scored 16 against Glasgow's 10 points. The second saw the Wildcats surge with 24 points while they held the Scotties to nine points. They would end the half ahead of the Scotties by 21 points with a score of 40 to 19.

The Wildcats would lose momentum in the third quarter, but the Scotties would not be given a chance to capitalize on the slow game as Harlem banked 10 points to the Scotties' nine. It remained a 20-point game going into the fourth quarter, but the Scotties would refuse to quit. In the fourth quarter the Scotties outscored Harlem, racking up 21 total points to try and narrow the lead before ending their season. Harlem though, would keep a steady score during the quarter and rack up 17 of their own to hold onto the lead. The final score was 67 to 49 in the Wildcats' favor.

The Scotties played the entire bench for at least one minute during the game against Harlem. Abrianna Nielsen and Riley Noser scored the most points for the Scotties at 11 each. Anika Peters carried seven points; Laura Ross had six; Taylor Pederson four; Tyann Graham and Keely Fossum had three; and Daley Aune and Davyn Myrick banked two.

"Harlem's pressure got to us," said Nielsen. "And we threw it away too many times." He would add that the team tried to mix it up and make changes throughout the game to change the momentum and disrupt the Wildcats but it was, "too little, too late."

As for the whole season, Nielsen said he was proud of how things turned out. The Lady Scotties played 51 total games and only lost five in conference play for a strong record. He added that the shot at the consolation finals was a rarity for the Lady Scotties' basketball program and stating that the team was "proud to have that shot."

As for next season, Nielsen is looking forward to the returning talent but he added that the team would miss their four seniors. "The seniors have been great this season and we're really going to miss them." He added that the Scotties would be hitting some off season camps and getting together for -eam tourneys and play over the summer.

"I'm looking forward to what we have coming back and heading into next year," said Nielsen. The goal for next year will be to improve on this year and end the 22-year dry spell of state showings at the Scottie program. "We're pleased we made it to the semifinals but now we need to top the mountain."