Lady Dogs fall short against Durand and Spring Valley
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by Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
The Bulldog girls’ basketball team faced two different types of ball clubs this past week. The first was a Durand squad that is sitting a half game behind first-place Colfax and Elk Mound in the conference standings. The other was a Spring Valley team that was looking for their identity, much like Boyceville.
While the opponents where dissimilar and the games vastly different, the outcomes were the same for Boyceville as it dropped both contest and fall to 1-8, 1-17 on the season.
Durand (7-1, 14-3) would start out slow but take control at the end of the first half on their way to a 61-17 victory over the visiting Bulldogs. However, Boyceville would stay in a close contest when hosting Spring Valley (3-6, 6-12) and it would take the Cardinals an extra period to pull out the 38-35 win.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Lady Bulldogs as they hosted Durand on Tuesday, February 1. They then travel to conference co-leader Colfax this Thursday, February 3.
Durand
The Panthers have one of the better teams in the area, and they would test the Bulldogs in all areas on the floor. For the first 15 minutes of play, it appeared Boyceville was up to the challenge. The stingy Bulldog defense held the Durand offense to only 22 points.
However, the last three minutes proved fatal to the Bulldogs as the Panthers went on a run to go up by 28 points at halftime by the score of 38-10.
“We played good defense having held them to 22 points with 2:45 to go in the first half but they wore us down with their depth,” commented Bulldog head coach Jay Lagerstrom.
The second half wouldn’t fair much better for the Bulldogs. They would only manage seven points in the half, while giving up 23 to Durand to lose 61-17.
“We really struggled against their pressure and had more turnovers than shots attempted, and games will get ugly fast if you let that happen,” indicated Lagerstrom.
While Boyceville went only 6-17 from the field, Rachael Montgomery was a bright spot offensively. She went 3-8 from the field for six points on the evening. Hailey Hanestad and Sarah Stoveren both contributed four points.
Spring Valley
For the second time this season, the Bulldogs would face the Cardinals. Unlike the first contest where Spring Valley won by 18 points, the Bulldogs would make the Cardinals work for every bucket in the January 28 contest.
The first game saw Spring Valley have a commanding 20-point lead at halftime, whereas this time around the Bulldogs trailed by only six at intermission. The Bulldogs would take control in the second half, especially in the last nine minutes.
Three pointers by Cambrie Reisimer and Stoveren, along with three buckets by Montgomery would help Boyceville tie the score at the end of regulation at 31-31.
However, a three-pointer basket by Cardinal Allison Graham at the beginning of the extra frame would spark Spring Valley as they would hold on for the 38-35 overtime win.
“Offensively we missed several easy first half opportunities and 12 free throws in regulation and it just came back to haunt us on that one point we needed to seal the deal before going into OT,” said Lagerstrom.
Boyceville shot less than 50 percent from the free throw line, going 8-20 during regulation and 1-2 in overtime.
Offensively, Hannah Dunn led the way and scored 15 points on the evening. She had a three pointer and went 6-7 from the free-throw line to pace her team. Montgomery had eight points on the evening.