Turnovers pace Watford City’s win over Trinity
Dickinson Trinity and Watford City’s defenses nearly canceled each other out Friday.By: Dustin Monke, The Dickinson Press
- Andrea Jirges
Dickinson Trinity and Watford City’s defenses nearly canceled each other out Friday.
Full-court traps by both teams forced an assortment of turnovers early before Watford City picked up its game and built a big lead.
Trinity rallied but couldn’t do enough to upset the Wolves, who held on for a 60-55 non-region girls basketball win on senior night at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.
Watford City had 38 turnovers and Trinity had 28.
“Normally we take care of the ball a lot better than that, but we just made way too many turnovers,” Watford City head coach John Zenz said. “They were of the unforced variety. We got off to a slow start just because we were turning the ball over way too much. It’s something we need to improve on and get better at.”
The Wolves (17-2) bounced back and built a 54-37 lead by the midway point of the fourth quarter, only to watch Trinity pull back in the game with a 13-4 run in the final minutes.
Trailing 58-55, Trinity looked to have an opportunity to take the final shot when Brianna Allex missed a pair of free throws with 11.1 seconds remaining. But, the rebound fell off the hands of the Titans (10-8) and out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Wolves.
Watford City’s Jessica Brown sealed the win at the free-throw line.
“We need to attack,” Trinity head coach Alysia Barman said. “We need to be as aggressive the entire game as we were the last 2 minutes.”
Katie Mogen, an eighth-grader, led the Wolves with 17 points. Allex added 10 points and eight rebounds. Sadie Keison had 10 points and four steals.
The teams combined for 46 first-half turnovers (Watford City 26, Trinity 21) and seemed to spend more time at the free-throw line than anywhere else as fouls piled up from the pressure defense.
Trinity finished 12 of 16 from the line and Watford City was 22 of 31.
“We could have eliminated some of those turnovers by just thinking through everything we did,” said Trinity senior Kelsey Deichert, who had 12 points. “But we’ve just got to play smarter next time. We knew they were going to be tough. We practiced that. I think we all scared ourselves before coming into the game.”
Sophomore Rachel Jahner led the Titans with 17 points. She hit four 3-pointers, including one she banked in with 53 seconds remaining to make it 57-52.
Senior Nikki Grinsteinner added seven points, nine rebounds, six steals and a pair of blocks.
Trinity led 12-7 at the end of the first quarter and was ahead 16-7 after making four free throws in the opening minute of the second quarter. But, it watched that advantage slip away through numerous turnovers.
Watford City scored nine unanswered points to tie it at 16 and kept Trinity scoreless from the field until the 3-minute mark. The Wolves led 26-21 at halftime.
Trinity doesn’t get much time to recover. It hosts Bowman County at 4 p.m. today.
“I thought we did some really good things,” Barman said. “It’s just hustle plays. We’ve got to make sure that every, single time, we’re the ones that are setting the tone for how things are going to be as far as hustle.”
WC 7 26 42 60
Trinity 12 21 35 55
WC: Katie Mogen 17, Sadie Kieson 10, Brianna Allex 10, McKayla Haugeberg 8, Jessica Brown 5, Amanda Mogen 4, Charlie Hystad 4, Fallon Fladeland 2.
T: Rachel Jahner 17, Kelsey Diechert 12, Katelyn Grinsteinner 8, Andrea Jirges 7, Nikki Grinsteinner 7, Lydia Brooke 2, Gretchen Weir 2.
3-pointers: WC 0, T 7 (Jahner 4, K. Grinsteinner 2, Deichert 1). Free throws: WC 22-31, T 12-16. Total fouls: WC 20, T 21. Fouled out: WC, Haugeberg, Hystad; T, N. Grinsteinner. Rebounds: WC 44 (Allex 8), T 31 (N. Grinsteinner 9). Steals: WC 13 (Haugeberg 5), T 13 (N. Grinsteinner 6). Blocks: WC 3 (K. Mogen 2), T 2 (N. Grinsteinner 2). Turnovers: WC 38, T 28.
Tags: high school basketball, trinity titans, sports, titans
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