Powder River Examiner -

Broadus basketball teams hosted two nights of home games last week, taking on the always tough Melstone Broncs and Lady Broncs on Thursday, followed by the Ekalaka Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs on Friday. This week the teams travel to Wibaux on Friday, and host Custer/Hysham on Saturday, with a JV Boys game beginning at 1:30 (only a half game will be played), JV Girls scheduled for 2:30, Varsity Boys at 4, and Varsity Girls at 5:30. The write ups below concern the games against Melstone and Ekalaka.

Girls

"We knew going into the Melstone game it was going to be tough," Broadus Girls Varsity Coach Ashley Emmons told us during a visit on Monday. "Melstone has three really solid players, and we knew Draya Wacker was going to score on us regardless of the pressure we put on her, so we really concentrated on those other players. When we were able to maintain that plan, particularly in the first and fourth quarters we played well. Unfortunately, we really let them get away from us in the second and third quarters."

The Lady Hawks were indeed able to keep the score close in the first quarter, trailing 13-6 after one. Melstone led 32-13 at the half, 47-21 after three, and 60-30 at the end.

Stats from the score book showed Zeason and Oliveah Schaffer leading the Lady Hawks in scoring with 8 points each, while Draya Wacker led Melstone with 21 points, Kayla Kanbrol had 16, and Avery Eike 12.

On Friday, Broadus faced the tenacious Lady Bulldogs of Ekalaka, and once again came out to play well early in the game, leading 18-16 after the first quarter. Ekalaka seemed to come alive in the second quarter, capitalizing on Broadus ball handling mistakes to lead 37-30 at the half. Ekalaka pulled ahead 49-34 after the third quarter, and won the game 61-44.

Emma Isaacs led the Lady Hawks in scoring with 13, followed by Aspen Krantz with 10 points. Heidi LaBree of Ekalaka scored 19, while Kenzie Tooke had 14 and Nasya O' Connor 13 points for the Lady Bulldogs.

The two losses last week put Broadus tied for fourth in the conference, sharing a conference record with Custer/ Hysham, who the Lady Hawks face this Saturday. Broadus has previously beaten Wibaux in December, and look to continue that record on Friday, though Emmons tells us that beating Wibaux at their home gym is always a difficult task, as Wibaux tends to play well at home.

The Lady Hawks JV Team has been playing well, having won the last three games, according to JV Coach Monica Smith. The Lady Hawks beat St. Labre's JV 41-4, Melstone 29-25, and Ekalaka 42-21.

Boys

The Broadus Hawk team went into the games last week looking to continue their undefeated season, having won their last six games for a 6-0 start to the season, coincidentally tying the initial record of the 2013-14 Broadus team, which was the last team to go to State previous to the 2021 season.

In order to continue that winning record, Broadus had to first overcome Melstone, a task which has proven to be daunting: Broadus Head Coach Mike Richards has not won a regular season game against Melstone's Coach Grebe. That is, until the game last Thursday.

"Our first step to winning a conference championship for the first time in 20 years was beating Melstone, and we took that step last Thursday," Richards commented during a Monday interview. The last time the Hawks won a conference championship was the 2001-2002 season, which featured players including standout athletes such as Cody Samuelson and Kevin Bird. This year's team still has a lot of season left to clinch that title, but beating Melstone for the first meeting of the season was certainly a step in the right direction.

The intense game started off with a Melstone lead, with the lead see-sawing back and forth in the first quarter. Broadus led by as much as 13 points in the third quarter, but Melstone slowly chipped away at the score and came back to tie the game at the end of regulation, and a missed layup by Melstone near the end of regulation sent the game into overtime. Broadus handled overtime well, sealing the win 62-55.

Dillon Gee had a big night for the Hawks against Melstone with a double-double, scoring 22 points and handling 13 rebounds. Wyatt Gee scored 16 and brought down 8 rebounds, and the Hawks spread the ball around quite well, with 20 assists for the team on the night.

On Friday's game against Ekalaka, Broadus was able to continue their dominant performance and not experience the "post-big game letdown", as the Hawks came out to an early 20-9 lead over the Bulldogs. The Hawks kept a steady lead throughout the game, winning handily 63-39.

34 of the Hawks' points came from in the paint against Ekalaka, meaning the big guys – Dillon Gee, Wyatt Gee, and Tytan Hanson made a big difference underneath the basket. Dillon Gee once again led the Hawks in scoring with 19 points, while picking up 8 rebounds.

Tytan Hanson battles through a crowd to score against Ekalaka. The Hawks won 63-39, improving their record to 8-0 on the season, after also beating Melstone in overtime on Thursday.

The team also shot 30% from three point land, with Marcus Mader, Josh Rasmussen, Tytan Hanson, and Johnny Richards sinking shots from beyond the arc.

A standout stat for the Hawks against Ekalaka was the free throw shooting percentage; Broadus sunk 11 of 13 shots for 85%, which is their best shooting of the year from the line.

Looking ahead, Broadus has beaten Wibaux earlier in the year but has not yet faced Custer/Hysham – a team which Richards says is much improved from years past.

If the Hawks look toward any kind of record consecutive wins they have a long way to go – the 1975-76 Hawk team started the season 22-0 and finished the season 22-2, while the 1991-92 team featuring Shawn Samuelson went 24-0, losing their final two games at State.

The Boys JV team has also been winning steadily this season. The team is currently 7-0. In the last three games, the Hawks JV beat St. Labre 72-11, came from behind to beat Melstone 42-33, and won against Ekalaka 63-29.