Turnovers again hinder DHS in loss to Mandan

Talk about it

Turnovers have plagued the Dickinson High girls basketball team the entire season.

The turnover bug struck again on Tuesday night.

Dickinson committed 33 turnovers as Mandan came away with a 56-45 win in a West Region game at DHS gymnasium.

“I think the girls are just trying to play and getting so nervous about making a mistake,” Dickinson head coach Dan Pender said. “It just time for the girls to play. This was an ugly game overall. Neither team played extremely well, but we just turned the ball over too many times.”

The turnovers struck immediately. The Midgets committed eight before taking their first field goal attempt. Riley Cooper came off the bench to net Dickinson’s first basket 3 minutes, 39 seconds into the game.

Despite turning the ball over 21 times in the first half, the Midgets (7-11, 5-10 West) trailed just 20-18 at halftime.

Dickinson senior Ali Moody had eight points and eight rebounds at the half and finished with a team-high 16 points and 11 rebounds.

“Turnovers have always been a big deal for us,” Dickinson senior post Rachel Schroeder said. “When it comes to throwing the ball over our head all the time, we got rid of that habit three years ago and it showed back up tonight.”

Dickinson had a good feeling going into the second half after holding Mandan to just 20 points.

“We told them, ‘We’re down by two and we have 21 turnovers,’” Pender said. “We just need to take care of the ball.”

The Midgets were celebrating senior night as Moody, Schroeder, Taylor Cooper and Shelby Stoltz were honored before the game.

Mandan (10-9, 9-7 West) took control in the second half outscoring the Midgets 36-27. Dickinson, however, managed to take care of the ball better, committing 12 turnovers in the second half.

“Our game plan coming in here was to apply full-court pressure,” Mandan head coach Len Stanley said. “If we were going to have a chance to win, we were going to have to score some points off of the press.”

McKayla Howling Wolf started to heat up in the second half. She scored 10 of her 12 points in the final 18 minutes of play. Courtney Goetz added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Braves.

The Midgets’ offense also started to take shape as Schroeder scored all 14 of her points in the second half. The senior post grabbed seven rebounds. Moody and Schroeder accounted for 30 of the team’s 46 points.

“I think, in the second half, we made smarter passes and smarter decisions,” Schroeder said. “We kind of came down from all the emotions of senior night. You can’t play one good half of basketball, you’ve got to put two together.”

One player the Braves are without was 6-foot-2 senior post Lexi Goldade. The Braves leader in points and rebounds suffered a dislocated knee cap, but Stanley hopes she’ll be back by the West Region Tournament, which begins March 7 at the Bismarck Civic Center.

“She’s getting better and she’s doing rehab,” Stanley said. “We’ve got a week to go and hopefully she’ll give us some minutes.”

The Midgets have one final regular-season game. They travel to face No. 4-ranked Jamestown at 5:45 p.m. CST on Thursday.

Pender hopes his team can get back on the winning page before heading to the West Region Tournament.

“Hopefully, we can now rebound and get a win in Jamestown,” Pender said.

M: McKayla Howling Wolf 12, Courtney Goetz 12, Mariah Fredericks 9, Makenzie Schmidt 8, Chelsea Peterson 7, Hannah Hanson 4, JaeLyn Russell 4.

D: Ali Moody 16, Rachel Schroeder 14, Sydney Gangl 8, Shelby Stoltz 4, Riley Cooper 3.

Halftime: M 20-18. 3-pointers: M 2 (Howling Wolf 2), D 3 (Gangl 2, R. Cooper 1). Free throws: M 6-11, D 8-9. Total fouls: M 12, D 7. Rebounds: M 23 (Goetz 9), D 29 (Moody 11). Assists: M 23 (Fredericks 8), D 17 (Gangl 3, Moody 3, Lille Meduna 3, Taylor Cooper 3). Steals: M 15 (Fredericks 4, Goetz 4, Schmidt 4), D 9 (Moody 2, Schroeder 2). Blocks: M 0, D 1 (T. Cooper 1). Turnovers: M 18, D 33. Records: M 10-9 (9-7 West), D 7-11 (5-10 West).

Tags: high school basketball, dickinson midgets, sports, preps