WAUSA — The Wausa Lady Vikings opened up the postseason with a win on Feb. 12.
Wausa (5-16) defeated the 1-18 Winside Lady Wildcats 37-28 in its subdistrict opener at Wynot and then took on the host Lady Blue Devils (151) on Feb. 13. Full coverage of these basketball games will be available in next week’s Gazette.
Prior to postseason play, the Lady Vikings had a rough week as they dropped three straight games. Wausa lost at Osmond/Randolph 44-25 on Feb. 5, Hartington-Newcastle 53-44 on Feb. 6 and Neligh-Oakdale 40-17 on Feb. 8.
Senior Sienna West (11 points, eight rebounds) and sophomore Taylor Dawson (seven points) led the Vikings against Osmond/Randolph. West (16 points, three rebounds) and Dawson (12 points, six rebounds) played well in the loss to Hartington-Newcastle. West (eight points) and senior Hadley Vanness (six points) led the Lady Vikings against Neligh-Oakdale.
Wausa head coach Shane Anderson said a zone employed by Osmond/Randolph led to quite a bit of frustration as the Lady Vikings really struggled shooting from the perimeter in the contest.
“Sienna and Hadley were making some outside shots. Taylor was doing a decent job getting into the paint and kicking back out,” Anderson said. “We started to get some decent looks inside, but just are not able to convert them very well. Probably the most concerning part of the first half was the offensive rebounds we were giving up. The number of shots taken tells so much of the game; that’s why turnovers and offensive rebounds are so important.
“We ended up having 44 shots for the game; they had 68. There is just not very many ways to win a game when the other team takes that many more shots than you do. Defensively though, I thought we played well other than finishing the possession with a rebound. We ended up only scoring seven points in the second half, which didn’t really allow us to make any type of a run in the third quarter.”
In losing to Hartington-Newcastle, Wausa played well against a strong team with a decided height advantage.
“I was pretty happy with how the girls played,” Anderson said. “We had a stretch in the first half where I didn’t think we handled their pressure well, but other than that, we played them pretty evenly. We held our own on the glass, created some turnovers and shot the ball pretty well.
“It was a performance that would have gotten a win the night before. Sienna and Taylor both played well, and when they play well together, we usually are in basketball games as it opens things up for others, too. Most importantly, I thought the girls came ready to play.”
The Neligh-Oakdale game was already looking bleak prior to as Anderson noted a flat warm-up from the Lady Vikings before the tip-off.
“This season, I have failed as a coach trying to find out the buttons to push to get them ready night in and night out,” Anderson said. “We have always had glimpses of playing good basketball; I think our game plans have been pretty solid in how we need to defend and the girls do a nice job with them. It’s just the consistency of will we start the game the right way or when will that part of the game hit where we have a really bad three-minute stretch that takes us out of really having a chance to win.
“This game, we started so slow; defensively, we did a very poor job and they scored nine points in the first three minutes of the game. Then we settled in and started hitting some shots of our own, but eventually became very cold. We scored nine points in the first quarter and only eight the remainder of the game.”
He was worried about Wausa’s consistency and offensive prowess heading into subdistricts.
“We also have to be able to rebound,” Anderson said. “On the bright side though, if we play like we did against Hartington, we can compete against anyone.”
Vanness said she thought the Lady Vikings were playing better in the second half of the season, but communication has been the key.
“We are seeing our better half of basketball right now,” she said. “(The last week) is disappointing for all of us because we know we were better than that, but things happen and results are an outcome of what we put in. Just gaining confidence in each and every one of us have been hard for some, especially some of the young ones. But they’re starting to come around a little bit more.”
