Heart River split Thursday night games with Lemmon

Heart River senior Jordan Buckman (22) fights for position underneath the basket before putting up a shot in the first half against Lemmon on Thursday, Jan. 6 at South Heart High School in South Heart. (Race Archibald / The Dickinson Press)

By Race Archibald

January 06, 2022 at 9:46 PM

SOUTH HEART, N.D. — The Cowboys and Cowgirls from Lemmon, South Dakota made the trip across state lines Thursday night to take on Heart River in a pair of non-conference matchups. The Heart River girls were looking to bounce back after a loss to Glen Ullin-Hebron on Jan. 4, while the boys looked to extend their winning streak to three.

GIRLS

Heart River 58, Lemmon 32

The Cougars used a balanced scoring attack and a large run to open the third quarter to run away from the Cowgirls for the easy victory. Senior Lelani Privatsky had a game-high 18 points, but had plenty of support from her teammates.

Senior Jordan Buckman and sophomore Sage Froehlich both tallied 10 points, while senior Meg Silbernagel and sophomore Abby Talkington added 9 apiece.

Heart River sophomore sage Froehlich (12) fights through traffic for a layup in the first half against Lemmon on Thursday, Jan. 6 at South Heart High School in South Heart. (Race Archibald / The Dickinson Press)

Heart River jumped out to a 13-2 lead, forcing the Cowgirls to call multiple timeouts to regain their focus. The Cougars didn’t let up, scoring 17 points in the first quarter and 16 in the second for a 33-14 halftime lead.

It wasn’t enough for the hosts to be comfortable, rattling off a 13-0 run to begin the third quarter for a commanding 46-14 lead.

“We’ve never been a team that wins every quarter,” Heart River head coach Ronnie Stewart said. “We said usually the first and third quarters aren’t the best one so we came out with a lot more energy because the last game we played was arguably the worst we’ve played in a number of years. The girls took that personal and we had a great practice yesterday, our energy was so much better. We said we’ve got to start faster and do the things we’re pretty strong at.”

Heart River senior Meg Silbernagel (25) puts up a shot in the first half against Lemmon on Thursday, Jan. 6 at South Heart High School in South Heart. (Race Archibald / The Dickinson Press)

Lemmon wouldn’t register their first point of the second half until midway through the third quarter. They only scored 7 points in each of the first three quarters.

They were able to hit double digits in the final quarter, but it was too little too late. The Cougars offense was humming all night as they shared the ball to evenly distribute the scoring. The ball kept moving around the perimeter for the Cougars, who looked to spread out the Cowgirls’ defense to find cutting lanes and open shooters.

“We try to stretch the defense,” Stewart said. “And after getting some of that movement if we can get good dribble penetration, then we’ll be able to get our post sliding in position with a short corner and high post which usually creates good opportunities. The name of the game in girls basketball from that zone defense is you have to be patient.”

Heart River senior Jordan Buckman (22) opts for the running skyhook in the first half against Lemmon on Thursday, Jan. 6 at South Heart High School in South Heart. (Race Archibald / The Dickinson Press)

Stewart was very pleased with the result, noting how poor they played in their last game against Glen Ullin-Hebron, where they lost 53-35. It was a point of emphasis tonight to establish their post players down low.

BOYS

Lemmon 45, Heart River 36

In contrast to the girls, the Heart River boys struggled coming out of the gate, knocking down just one basket in the opening four minutes. They trailed 12-8 after the first quarter. The second quarter was their best, notching 15 points as they went into the locker room at the half down 24-23.

Heart River Senior Braden Obrigewitch (11) goes up for a layup at the end of the first half against Lemmon on Thursday, Jan. 6 at South Heart High School in South Heart. (Race Archibald / The Dickinson Press)

Again, unlike the girls, the boys sputtered in the third quarter, making only two field goals for five points, with their first not coming until 2:13 left in the quarter.

“We just have to execute better on offense,” Heart River head coach Erik Klein said. “Defensively we worked our tail off tonight. We didn’t shoot the ball well. Hats off to Lemmon they worked hard on defense too but quite simply we didn’t execute.”

Senior Braden Obrigewitch did his best to carry the load offensively, but constantly found himself being greeted by multiple defenders whenever he drove to the paint. He led the Cougars with 12 points, but it didn’t come easy.

Heart River senior Tarence Dillinger (44) pushes the ball up the court in the first half against Lemmon on Thursday, Jan. 6 at South Heart High School in South Heart. (Race Archibald / The Dickinson Press)

Down 40-28 in the fourth quarter, Klein called a timeout to regroup for one last run. They went on a mini 6-0 run to chip their deficit in half 40-34.

But the Cowboys held them off long enough, sinking a crucial bucket and free throw to make it a nine-point game with under three minutes to play at 43-34. It proved to be too much to overcome for Heart River, who had their two-game win streak snapped. They failed to make a single 3-pointer, compared to five for Lemmon.