BROOKINGS The Brookings Bobcats saw several players step up, but despite holding the lead throughout a majority of the first three quarters, the Bobcats fell to the Watertown Arrows 58-48 in overtime in their season opener at Brookings High School on Friday night.
It was important for us to get back on the court and play someone else, Bobcats head coach Mitch McLagan said after the game. After 15 practices, you get kind of tired of playing each other so it was nice to play a game and playing a rival in game one made tonight even more exciting.
The Bobcats and Arrows showed some opening night jitters early as both teams went scoreless through the first four minutes of the first quarter. After Tess Burns scored the first points of the season on a pair of free throws with 3:47 left in the first quarter, the Bobcats and Arrows finished the opening frame tied at 7-7 before Brookings scored the first five points of the second quarter.
The Bobcats later went on a 6-0 run to take a 26-18 lead at halftime and ran their lead up to nine points when Burns made a jumper to put Brookings up 30-21 with 5:36 to go in the third quarter. But Watertown began its rally with a 12-4 run to end the third quarter and took its first lead since late in the first quarter on Emery Thurys jumper with 7:09 to play.
The Arrows went on to run their lead up to 40-34 with 4:58 to go but the Bobcats wouldnt give up. With Watertown doing its best to hold Logan Smidt to four points over the first three quarters, several role players stepped up including Sloan McLagan, who scored 13 points off the bench including a 3-pointer that made it a 41-39 game with 4:20 to go.
We got some big minutes tonight, Mitch McLagan said. Sloan played huge for us and she was a big part of our offense. Even in the first half, she came out, hit a couple of big shots and got our energy going and things kind of went from there. I was super proud of the night she had and we have to get more kids to step up and get chances as we go on.
The Bobcats also got contributions from Tess Burns, who had 10 points and seven rebounds and Brinleigh Mack, who knocked down four free throws in the fourth quarter including a pair that tied the game at 41-41 with 3:32 left in regulation.
The final minutes in regulation went back and forth as Thurys layup gave Watertown a 45-44 lead with 49 seconds to go, but Smidt hit a free throw with 41 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Unfortunately, the Bobcats suffered another dry spell offensively as Watertown took the lead for good on Addi Johnstons 3-pointer with 2:48 to go. Johnston added another 3-pointer on the following possession to put the Arrows up 53-48 and that was enough to steal the win.
It was kind of what we expected, Mitch McLagan said of the offensive struggles. Our offense has not been great in practice and we were just a little sluggish. Our flow wasnt very good, so thats something weve got to work on and continue to work on.
Smidt finished with 10 points and nine rebounds in the opener while Macy Even had eight points and four rebounds. Mack had seven points and four rebounds while going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line and the Bobcats shot the ball at 27 percent as a team with 25 turnovers.
Thury led the Arrows with 16 points to go with 11 rebounds, five steals and five assists on the night while Miranda Falconer had 14 points, four rebounds, two steals and two assists and Johnston finished with 11 points, two rebounds, an assist and four steals.
Watertown shot 42 percent from the floor and committed 19 turnovers as a team.
The Bobcats will look to rebound from their opening night loss when they host Huron in the opening game of a doubleheader on Tuesday. While there were some encouraging things, McLagan says there are some things he and his team could do better as they look to improve against the Tigers.
Weve got to keep growing, Mitch McLagan said. We had too many turnovers and we gave up too many offensive rebounds but our kids battled. We gave them so many extra possessions that our kids had to defend but I was super proud of our group tonight.
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