Lady Bulldogs gaining momentum on the court after wins at home

By Kelsie Hoitomt

The Lady Bulldogs finished the week with a pair of wins against Spring Valley last Tuesday, February 5 and then last Friday night versus Elmwood.

Dogs bite the birds

The Bulldogs were finally able to break their streak of bad luck this past week as they earned their first win since the beginning of January after beating the Cardinals 53-40. The Cardinals have only won one game this season in the Dunn-St.Croix Conference.

The Cardinals quickly fell behind after the opening minutes as they scored just three baskets and the Bulldogs posted 15 points to secure a solid lead.

This lead carried throughout the entirety of the game with the score at 22-17 after the second quarter. A huge third quarter by the Bulldogs helped to seal the win after 19 points were scored compared to the Cardinal’s 11 for a score of 41-28 going into the final eight minutes.

Bird had one of her strongest performances of the season as she posted almost half of the team’s points with 25 from eight deuces, one trey and six free throws.

The rest of the points were scored from Franseen who had 12, Peterson had five, Blaser had four, Merten had three and Marlett and Lake each had two.

As a team, the Bulldogs had one of their better success rates from the free throw line as they were 12 for 16. The Cardinal’s were just over 50 percent with 11 out of 20 attempts counting.

“We were able to get off to a fast start.  We have been sluggish in the 3rd quarters so having a good 3rd quarter was also a key.  We were able to try some new things.  We also shot well from the free throw line,” shared head coach Jolene Bird.

Continued victory at home

The Bulldogs finished their week with another victory after beating the Elmwood Raiders 47-38.

The Bulldogs were able to get out to a fast start again in the opening minutes as they scored 15 points through the help of treys from Bird and Merten. They allowed the Raiders to score just one basket.

The pace of the game changed in the second quarter though and the Raiders were able to close the gap slightly after the Bulldogs posted just seven points for a 22-15 half time score.

“We had trouble in the second quarter on the defensive end and missed too many free throws in that quarter as well,” said Bird.

The Bulldogs continued to struggle with free throws, but they were strong from under the net and outside the arc which allowed them to score 12 points in the third and 13 in the fourth for the victory.

Bird was the points leader again for the game with 17 from seven free throws, two treys and two deuces. Lake had a solid game as well with 14 points including a trey and she had eight offensive and defensive rebounds. Merten had the team high for triples with three and a deuce for 11 points. Marlett and Blaser each had two points and Franseen had a free throw.