Powder River Examiner -

Despite missing two games just before Christmas due to weather, the three week hiatus between games proved to be no huge problem for the Hawk and Lady Hawk Varsity teams, as they crushed Terry and Plevna over the weekend.

Boys

"The team played great first halves in both games this weekend," Broadus Boys Head Coach Dustin Lanke commented on his team's performance, which saw the Hawks topple the Terry Terriers 60-31 on Friday, and an easy win over the Plevna Cougars 74-32 on Saturday.

The game against Plevna started out with Broadus scoring 19 in each of the first two quarters to more than double up on Terry at the half, 38-13.

In the second half Broadus scored another 22 points to win 60-31.

One key to the Broadus win was limiting Terry's leading scorers in minimal points. In their first meeting at Broadus, Leonardo Mogni of Terry scored 15 points, but this time around the Hawks shut him down as he scored 2 points. Broadus also forced a lot of turnovers – 29 in total.

"Our shot selection was much better in this game," Lanke commented, as Broadus had a 47% effective field goal percentage, as opposed to 39% in the first meeting with Terry.

"One thing we need to work on is our physicality under the boards. We were giving up a lot of offensive rebounds, he noted. Terry led in the rebound department with 37 to Broadus' 33, often a result of Terry being more physical where the tall Broadus players were trying to use their reach.

Going into the game on Saturday, Lanke told his team that despite Plevna's winless record they could be a surprise, as Plevna had recently come within 3 points of beating 4C second place team Jordan on Tuesday, led by Gyme Kelly's 27 points.

The Hawks were ready for Plevna as they jumped out to an early 21-5 lead in the first quarter, and cruised to an easy 74-32 win.

Broadus scored a nice 1.17 points per possession in the win, with 25 points off turnovers and 17 transition points.

"The team was very unselfish," Dustin noted. "We had 25 assists in the game, which shows the team was sharing the ball well."

Dillon Gee came within two rebounds of a triple double, as he scored 20 points, snagged 12 rebounds, and had 8 assists in only 18 minutes of play (sitting out the 4th quarter).

Marcus Mader scored a season high 26 points, shooting 11 of 17 from the field and 3 for 3 from beyond the arc.

Jaxon Bilbrey had a great weekend shooting the ball, going 4 for 4 against Plevna and 2 for 3 at Terry.

Broadus hosts a weekend of games in the coming days, as Jordan makes the trip down Highway 59 on Friday, and Melstone makes the drive over on Saturday.

Jordan is a bit of a question mark this year, as they played to within 3 points of a win against the ever tough Melstone team earlier in the season, but also nearly lost to Plevna last week. Lanke told us that Jordan has good guards who will be the players to look out for, as Broadus faces the 3-3 Mustangs.

Melstone is no longer in our conference, and has lost a bit of their thunder this year compared to years past but are always a strong team, and have matched up well against Broadus over the past few years. Due to the number of games they've played against each other lately, Lanke likens the games to a chess match: "The teams just know each other so well," he said.

The wins this weekend propel Broadus to a 5-2 overall record, with a 3-0 conference record. Jordan is in second at 2-0 in conference, Wibaux third at 1-1, Terry at 1-2, Ekalaka 0-1, and Plevna 0-2.

Girls

The Lady Hawks had a few stumbles early on against Terry but were able to go up 13-8 in the first quarter, and 24-16 at the half. Broadus maintained a healthy lead the rest of the game to win 55-37. We weren't able to attain accurate stats from the game, as the video footage of the game was not up to Hudl's standard and was not statted out.

Broadus Girls Head Coach Ashley Emmons told us that the three week break likely had something to do with the team's performance, as the girls seemed a bit rusty early on and lacking urgency, but a win was a win. She related the team that info during a post-game meeting, which set the stage for an easy win against Plevna. Emmons noted that Terry has been steadily improving as a team, and by tournament time they could prove a tough team to beat.

Plevna has six girls on the team this season after losing some of their talent last year, and with Broadus now back in the groove the Lady Hawks made short work of the Lady Cougars, winning 62-15.

Broadus scored 39 points off turnovers, with Plevna accumulating 38 turnovers compared to 9 for Broadus. The Lady Hawks sunk 5 of 17 threes to add 15 points, and scored 0.99 points per possession.

Emmons commented that a big change she's seen this year compared to other recent seasons is a balanced scoring attack, with multiple members of the team able to have big nights.

The team’s ability to share the ball leads to headaches for opposing defenses, and also gives an opportunity for the hot shooter on any particular night to make a great contribution to ensure a win as a team. Against Plevna, for example, Broadus had 3 players with 10 or more points, while every member of the team was able to score.

Sporting one the team's new dark green road uniform, Emma Isaacs sinks a layup.

The next test for the Lady Hawks comes against an always physical Jordan team this Friday, then against the challenging Melstone team Saturday. Melstone has several major offensive threats and should prove to be a challenging game.

Currently Broadus sits atop the conference with a 3-0 conference record, while Ekalaka is in second at 2-0, though they Lady Bulldogs are 8-0 overall compared to the Lady Hawk’s 5-2 record.

Jordan is 1-1 and in third place, with a 4-2 overall record. Wibaux, Plevna, and Terry bring up the rest of the pack.

Also coming up is the rescheduled game against St. Labre next Tuesday, and with a wrestling mixer in Broadus on Thursday, the basketball teams will have two days of practice next week and three games total – a bit of a preview ahead to tournament time.