Lady Bulldogs pick up a win over Holyoke in Holiday Tournament

The Lady Bulldogs notched their first win of the season this week as they took down county rival Holyoke in round two of play in the 2022 Northeastern Junior College Holiday Basketball Tournament. The tournament, slated to be played late last week and into the weekend was rescheduled, twice, due to a mid-December blizzard that hit northeastern Colorado restricting travel. Many schools canceled classes for much or all of last week.

Tournament play opened on Saturday morning as the Lady Bulldogs took the court for game one in a contest with Wiggins to kick off tournament play. Haxtun trailed by just four at the end of the first quarter and with nine additional points in the second, the Lady Bulldogs were down by five at the half.

Scoring slowed for the Lady Bulldogs, the visiting team on the scoreboard at NJC, in the third but the fourth played out differently. Haxtun put 11 points on the board while holding the Lady Tigers to just eight but despite a late-game run, the Lady Bulldogs came up short, 48-30.

Sophomore Bobbi Starkebaum registered 11s across the board as she pulled down 11 rebounds in game one while also scoring 11 points. Samantha Seger, a junior, added six points in Saturday's contest. Junior Cassidy Goddard matched Starkebaum's rebounds with 11 while also putting five points on the board. Cassidy Goodwin, a senior on the team, also tallied five points. Goddard and Starkebaum combined for five steals against Wiggins.

A loss to the Lady Tigers pitted the Lady Bulldogs in a match up with the Holyoke Lady Dragons in round two of play. Holyoke, now under the director of former Haxtun Head Coach Arlan Scholl, lost their tournament opener to Merino, 52-20.

Haxtun came out on top in the first quarter of play, jumping to an early 6-5 lead in Sterling on Monday. An additional 14 points in the second gave the Lady Bulldogs a 20-12 advantage at half time. Fourteen seemed to be the lucky number for the ladies in red and black as Haxtun registered 14 points in both the third and fourth quarters to cruise to a 48-37 win over the Lady Dragons for the team's first notch in the win column this season. The victory over Holyoke sent the Lady Bulldogs into the consolation championship of the tournament on Tuesday. Results from that contest were not available as of press time.

"The girls deserved that win! We've had a lot of challenges already in our short season. The latest being the weather we had last week," said Head Coach Alicia Schram. "We had three games in three short days with no practice. All of our prep was done virtually and with athletics, we all know how hard that is. Getting a win was important for the girls, for us coaches and for our fans. It's a culmination of our hard work, our patience and our grit. Our pregame conversation was about 'possession' - how we had to have and keep several things to come out on top. We had to keep the ball in our hands but also had to have possession of control, positive energy and determination. That's something the girls have - they don't quit. I'm so proud of them. We still have wrinkles to iron out, but this win is a spark that will help light the fire."

Starkebaum led her team in scoring for the second consecutive game, this time registering 18 points for the Lady Bulldogs. She also led under the basket with 12 rebounds. Sophomore Emily Anderson and Goddard each put eight points on the board against the Dragons followed by Goodwin with seven and Seger with four. Goodwin also netted 10 rebounds.

Following tournament action this week, the Lady Bulldogs will break for the holidays until Jan. 6 when the team is set to host Prairie. The following night, Haxtun will meet up with Wiggins again.

"Rebounding continues to be a strong aspect for our team. We are also in better shape than we have ever been. That allows us to keep grinding when other teams have run out of steam. I'm excited to keep working and putting different things together every week to get better. I'm proud of the girls and my coaches. It was a sweet win and we are already looking forward to the next one!" Schram added.