BROOKINGS – The Bobcats limited Watertown to 18 percent shooting to post a 40-21 Eastern South Dakota Conference girls’ basketball win on Tuesday night at Bob Jostad Gymnasium.
The Arrows netted single digits in each quarter as Brookings led 10-6 after one; 18-11 at halftime; and 33-18 through three to improve to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the ESD.
“We’re going to gain experience as the season goes on, but our last point tonight is we wanted no excuses,” said Arrow head coach Tom Mattingly. “Bottom line, I think we have a group – if we’re on the same page, and clearly there are some things that we have to work on – we’d still like to think we can come into this gym tonight and have a great chance to beat the Bobcats.
“We’ve had chances even before against some good teams, that if we could put a complete game together, we’d like to think we’re going to be there. At the same time, I think this team by the end of the year is going to have those learning steps and have that growth and I look forward to seeing where we can go.”
The Bobcats scored the first eight points of the game as Michaela Jewett sandwiched a pair of offensive-rebound putbacks around a Carolyn Hieb 3-pointer before Watertown closed the quarter with a 6-2 run when Meghan Heggelund drained four free throws around a Sierra Tennis basket.
Brookings pushed its lead to double digits with a 6-0 run to open the second quarter when Ava Burns and Johanna Miller scored baskets in the lane before Jewett converted another offensive rebound.
Tennis knocked down a 3 and Heggelund knocked down two more charity tosses, but Jewett answered with a hoop in the lane for the seven-point halftime lead.
The ‘Cats went on a 13-2 run in the first four minutes of the third quarter as Jewett netted eight straight points before Hieb buried another trey and Miller scored in the lane.
Megan Fannin, who scored in the paint for the Arrows at the 5:36 mark of the frame, scored five straight to make it 31-18 with 2:41 left, but Jewett pushed the advantage back to 15 points with a late basket just before the quarter break.
Fannin opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a sweet step-back move on the baseline, but that would be the last basket for the Arrows as Jewett went 1-for-2 from the line before converting another offensive-rebound basket. Miller scored twice from the foul stripe and then, Clarrisa Miller came off the bench and got in the scorebook with a basket before Alexa Buckley provided for the final margin with a late foul shot.
“Watertown had a great game plan where they really wanted to limit our offensive possessions – they took the clock down deep every possession,” said Bobcat head coach Mitch McLagan. “I thought offensively, we could have valued the basketball a little bit more – we had too many turnovers – but other than that, we played pretty good.
“Defensively, we did a phenomenal job – Megan Fannin is a heck of a player and I thought we did a really good job of limiting her touches. A lot of times defensively it’s hard to stay patient and not take chances. I thought we did a good job of just playing man-to-man defense – I think they had three shot-clock violations – and some poor shots at the end of the shot clock.”
Jewett posted a double-double with game highs of 22 points and 16 rebounds, while Hieb and Miller added six points apiece.
Fannin finished with nine points and Heggelund six as the Arrows dropped to 0-4 and 0-3 in conference play.
Brookings plays host to Pierre on Thursday while the Arrows welcome Aberdeen Central to the Watertown Arena on Friday.
BROOKINGS 40, WATERTOWN 21
Watertown (0-4, 0-3 ESD)
Meghan Heggelund 0-6 6-6 6, Alexa Buckley 0-2 1-2 1, Anni Cummings 0-0 0-0 0, Siri Kranz 0-1 0-0 0, Sierra Tennis 2-5 0-0 5, Abby Bramer 0-0 0-0 0, Megan Fannin 4-10 0-0 9, Devyn Keller 0-1 0-0 0, Sadie Danielsen 0-0 0-0 0, Maggie Heesch 0-5 0-0 0, Kailey Lindahl 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 6-33 7-8 21.
Brookings (3-1, 2-1 ESD)
Carolyn Hieb 2-5 0-2 6, Ava Burns 2-4 0-0 4, Michaela Jewett 9-19 4-6 22, Johanna Miller 2-4 2-2 6, Alli Gordon 0-1 0-0 0, Kailee Bartels 0-1 0-0 0, Megan Lippert 0-1 0-0 0, Regan Weisbeck 0-0 0-0 0, Clarissa Miller 1-1 0-0 2, Kennedy Schafer 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Rystrom 0-0 0-0 0, Celia Dobrenski 0-0 0-0 0.
Watertown 6 5 7 3 – 21
Brookings 10 8 15 7 – 40
3-point goals – W 2-8 (Bramer 1-3, Fannin 1-5), B 2-10 (Hieb 2-3, Gordon 0-1, Burns 0-1, Lippert 0-1, Jewett 0-4). Rebounds – W 20 (Heggelund, Buckley, Lindahl 3), B 30 (Jewett 16). Assists – W 0, B 5 (Jewett 2). Steals – W 9 (Heggelund, Tennis 3), B 7 (Gordon, Weisbeck 2). Blocks – W 0, B 5 (Jewett 3). Turnovers – W 19, B 18. Total fouls – W 12, B 12. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
Junior Varsity
Watertown 31, BROOKINGS 25
Points – Emily Rystrom 6, Regan Weisbeck 5
Sophomore
BROOKINGS 44, WATERTOWN 26
Points – Ainsley Shelsta 16, Claire Burns 5, Bailey Waterman 5.
Freshman
Brookings 42, Watertown 12
Points – Ainsley Shelsta 9, Bayleigh Morson 8
