Basketball Teams Play At Ekalaka
Boy Varsity To Play Upton, Wyoming
February 3, 2022
Girls
The Broadus girls team continued to fight through injuries as they traveled to Ekalaka last week for a conference game, with one of the Lady Hawks' leading scorers, Abi Krantz, now out for the season with a knee injury. Several other players were in various ambulatory states – some able to play partial games.
Ekalaka's Lady Bulldogs had previously beaten Broadus here earlier in the month, winning 61-44. This time around the Lady Hawks struggled on offense in the first half, only putting up 8 points in the first two quarters, compared to Ekalaka's 26 points.
Broadus Head Coach Ashley Emmons told us that she went into the locker room and told the team that if they could pull the score to within ten in the third quarter, they'd have a chance at a win, and the girls responded, pulling to within 11. Ekalaka then returned the favor with a series of three pointers, and from there Broadus continued to trail behind to lose 31-48.
Emmons spoke about the game: "Ekalaka is a good team and all due respect to them, but we lost that game. Our missed shots and lack of intensity are what lost that game for us."
Aspen Krantz led Broadus in scoring with 9 points, while Rheanna Schroeder had 5 and Oliveah Schaffer, 4 points. Codi Melton led the Lady Bulldogs with 13 points; Heidi LaBree had 11 and Tyra O'Connor scored 10.
Broadus will now face Custer/Hysham in the renovated Custer gym on Thursday. In their first meeting Broadus won in a close game, 36-32.
On Friday, Broadus takes on Jordan at home, in a game which should prove to be a physical matchup, and a game in which Emmons says the Lady Hawks will have to keep their mental fortitude intact to have a chance against the aggressive Jordan Lady Mustangs.
In the final regular season games next weekend, Broadus will travel to Melstone and Terry. Melstone's girls beat Broadus 60-30 in their first matchup, while Broadus beat Terry 44-24 in their first meeting this season.
The JV girls lost to the Ekalaka JV girls 14-24.
Boys
The Hawk boys continued their dominate performance at Ekalaka last week, scoring an impressive 1.13 points per possession in the 60-33 win. Broadus went up early leading 15-9 after the first quarter, 31-13 at the half, and 41-20 after the third quarter.
The Hawks shot 82% from the free throw line, sinking 14 of 17 shots from the line. Marcus Mader led the Hawks in scoring with 15 points, going 6 of 9 from the field and adding a three pointer while also snagging 5 rebounds. Dillon Gee and Tytan Hanson each had 12 points, with five and six rebounds respectively.
"We went to Ekalaka and did what we needed to continue to win," Broadus Head Coach Mike Richards said of the game. The Hawks now have a 13-0 overall record on the year.
Broadus will travel to Custer on Thursday to play Custer/ Hysham, a team which limited the Hawks to 49 points in their first meeting of the year, while scoring 39 themselves.
On Friday Broadus hosts Jordan, which will also be the Basketball Senior Night. This ceremony will take place immediately following the girls JV game, before the varsity begin to warm up.
In a newly scheduled match-up this Saturday, Broadus will take on Upton, Wyoming in Wyoming. Upton is currently 14-1 in the 21-22 season, and is also the reigning Wyoming Class 1A (equivalent to Montana C) boys team. They are coached by Joe Samuelson, nephew of Broadus' own Butch Samuelson.
The matchup came about after an opening in the schedule for both teams; Richards hopes that the competitive matchup will provide a major challenge for the Hawks as they have their sights set on the challenges of tournaments.
Upton, which is located between Moorcroft and Newcastle, has a history of basketball competition against Broadus. In the 1987-88 season Upton beat Broadus 90-70, and the following year Broadus returned the favor, winning 67-48. That class featured players such as Mark Wenzel and Ronnie Richards.
In more recent years the Hawks have faced the Bobcats during the summer at tournaments in Rapid City. Mike Richards tells us that three years ago the Hawks beat Upton by 12, and two seasons ago Upton won by 5.
The game will take place at the Pronghorn Center on the Gillette College Campus this Saturday, February 5th. The boys JV will play at 5:30 PM, with the Varsity at 7 PM.
Next week the Hawks travel to Melstone and then to Terry on Saturday, in matchups against the current #2 and #3 teams in the conference.
The Broadus JV boys team won 69-42 against Ekalaka, followed by a 78-12 win at Saturday at Busby. JV boys Coach Dustin Lanke told us that much like St. Labre, most of the Northern Cheyenne athletes have transferred to other schools, so they are in the rebuilding process. He said that in talking with the Northern Cheyenne School coaches, athletic director, and some fans that had attended the game, they were very thankful for Broadus traveling to their school and being able to host a basketball game after 2 years of no competition. He noted "Northern Cheyenne were great hosts and even fed our boys pizza after the game."
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