Thursday, February 4

Following are abbreviated versions of the week's top stories. This digest is updated once a week, usually on Thursday.

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School meeting prompts clustering questions

By Charlie Denison
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

A number of teachers and parents spoke out against a school restructuring, while school officials touted the idea during a Tuesday night listening session.

The Glendive Public Schools Research and Planning Committee invited parents, teachers and the public to the Dawson County High School cafeteria to ask questions and address concerns regarding possible school restructuring.

This was the only public meeting regarding the school clustering that would place kindergarten through second grade in Jefferson and third grade through fifth grade in Lincoln, removing fifth grade from Washington Middle School.

The meeting lasted 90 minutes and began with Research and Planning Committee Chairperson Jeanne Seifert thanking those who came. Very few tables were left unoccupied.

“Change is difficult, but good for us,” Seifert said.

Lincoln Elementary Principal Steve Lynn addressed the lunch room of mostly women with 12 key points listed on a handout Glendive Superintendent of Schools Jim Germann passed out.

Lynn started out talking about state-required testing, mentioning that grades three, four and five are the only grades involved and, in the past, more than one test coordinator was needed. However, if Lincoln hosted all students in those grades, the testing would be less challenging.

“With restructuring, all those grades would come together,” Lynn said. “They would be under only one test coordinator.”

Lynn talked about how, instead of working with the same age groups, the restructuring is good for him and Jefferson Elementary Principal Vicky Panasuk to focus on their own strengths of leadership.

“Vicky has a lot of experience with reading implementation for early childhood,” he said. “I have a lot of experience working with intermediate.”

Lynn also said the restructuring will help teachers collaborate common needs and will maximize the strength of the teaching staff.

Following Lynn’s address, Seifert opened the meeting up to questions and concerns.

Transportation remained an issue at the meeting, especially for parents who live close to a school and would now have a child across town or siblings separated.

Eva Crockett said restructuring would mean her kindergartner would no longer would be in the same school as her older child and would need to be bused.

Both these changes upset her, she said.

“There’s no way I’m sending a kindergartner onto the bus,” she said.

Germann assured Crockett her kindergartner would be on a bus with only the kindergartners through second graders.

“Different age groups on buses is something we’re sensitive about,” he said.

Other parents wanted to know about the shuttling operation from school to school. Germann explained as of right now, the plan is to have Jefferson Elementary start late and get out earlier by 15-20 minutes, cutting a typical day to seven hours and 20 minutes.

Utilization of school space was also an issue that came up at the meeting.

Lynn said at Lincoln, he has several classrooms that can be utilized and a basement that can be used if necessary.

Regarding students with disabilities, Director of Special Education Sandy Grey Eagle said it is a possibility third grade through fifth grade can be split up on both floors so students who can’t use the stairs can stay on the first floor regardless of grade.

“When we have challenges based on these unique needs,” she said. “We do what we have to do.”

Another concern regarded staffing. One community member wanted to know if the restructuring would cause some teachers to lose their jobs.

“We’re going to have to see staff reductions regardless of whether we do this or not,” Germann said. “What this comes down to is what is best for the students.”

Agreeing with Germann, committee member Brian Steffen said he firmly believes this is the best decision for the students after looking through all the research.

“This is getting more situational than scientific,” he said, regarding the meeting. “We are seeing the scientific data and it’s hard to disengage from that.”

After a few more concerns, Germann told the public the idea of restructuring was “just a big headache” to him at first, but then he got excited about education.

“It’s exciting to get this many people in a room to talk about education,” he said.

Germann added, it is a hard call to tell any student they have to change schools.

Although most comments were negative, Washington Middle School Counselor Sherri Nissley focused on the benefits of the restructure.

“As a parent, I understand change is very scary,” Nissley said. “I’m excited for change. The students can start out with all their classmates. This also alleviates rivalry and it will be good to have fifth graders stay in the elementary setting for another year.”

Monica Melchoir, like Nissley welcomes change, but expressed her disappointment with the committee on Tuesday for not informing the public about the idea until December.

“It is the board and the school's job to educate us, to keep us informed,”she said. “I can appreciate a decision needs to be made soon, but making these points earlier in the ball game would have been better.”

A lot of teachers, however, wanted an immediate decision once hearing about the idea, Seifert said. That being the case, she said it was best to speed up the process.

“Your comments are well taken,” she told Melchoir. “But stringing it out will be a disservice to those affected by this.”

Seifert closed the meeting and told all in attendance the research and planning committee will present the Glendive Unified School Board with their recommendation at the next board meeting on Monday, Feb. 8, at 6 p.m. in the DCHS board room.

The meeting is open to the public. Reach Charlie Denison at ranger@midrivers.com.

Council votes to allow insurance option for elected officials

By Melissa Smith
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

The Glendive City Council Tuesday night voted to allow certain elected officials access to the city’s health insurance program.

In a unanimous vote, the council approved a plan to allow those elected officials working at least 20 hours per week an opportunity to participate in city health insurance provided by the Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority.

Mayor Jerry Jimison and City Judge Kerry Burman are the only two city officers who would qualify.

Jimison said he presented the idea to the council’s personnel committee for consideration after attending mayors’ meetings and learning other Montana municipalities offer health insurance participation.

Personnel committee chairwoman Kathy Green told the rest of the council the move would not cost the city anything. The elected officials would be required to pay 100 percent of their own insurance costs.

“The city would not subsidize it,” she said.

Jimison said neither he nor Burman had made plans to take advantage of the option upon council approval, but he believes it offers an option should the need ever arise.

“It’s just an opportunity to give elected officials a perk if they so desired or didn’t have health insurance through another means,” he said.

None of the city council members are eligible for the insurance plan and Jimison said he does not think that will change.

“We’d hope committee meetings don’t start getting that long, but you never know,” he joked.

The council on Tuesday night also approved a plan to allow city employees not currently taking advantage of health insurance coverage to be included in an Employee Assistance Program which consists of hotline call availability to help city employees deal with personal crises.

City of Glendive Director of Operations Kevin Dorwart told the council before, the city was paying two separate carriers for the EAP, one for those covered by insurance and one for those who were not, and the switch would save about $1,000 per year. Reach Melissa Smith at
rrreporter@rangerreview.com.

Home at last

By Melissa Smith
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

To see 8-year-old Viergine and 9-year-old Florencia play with their siblings, you’d never realize where they’ve been.

You would not know that just weeks ago, they saw their home country of Haiti fall to ruins following a massive earthquake.

You wouldn’t realize they both were living in an orphanage for the past four years, abandoned by their mothers who could not care for them.

All you see is two happy little girls, one all smiles reading “The Cat in the Hat,” the other a little more reserved, but chasing a balloon with her little brother.

“They’re emotionally healthy,” said Kristen Marble of the two daughters she and her husband, John, worked for four years to adopt. “That’s really encouraging to us.”

The family was finally united Tuesday after a dramatic series of events beginning with the Haitian earthquake and ending with their arrival with nothing but the clothes on their back in Billings with their father, who had traveled to Florida to get them.

I can’t imagine what they’re thinking,” Kristen said.

The children, who speak Creole, know some English, but communication for now is somewhat limited.

After all they’d been through in Haiti, once they arrived in Billings, the family’s van broke down and they had to spend the night at a friend’s home in Billings while they waited for the vehicle to be repaired.

Then, they made the three-hour drive from Billings to Glendive Wednesday, arriving home just in time for the weekly Bridge worship service hosted in their home.

In between, they dealt with reporters, photographers and strangers.

“I just think about it from their perspective,” Kristen said. “They have no frame of reference for anything. They’ve never seen open space. I’m not sure if they’ve ever seen a newspaper before.”

Everything is different, starting with the climate. They’d never seen temperatures below 65 and snow was something they’d never touched.

“The food is different, the smells are different,” Kristen said.

And while by American society’s standards, the girls are better off where they are, Kristen said she knows the young girls don’t immediately understand.

Though they’re excited now, especially with the eight siblings they have to play with, she said she expects reality to set in soon.

“I figure probably in about a week, we’re going to have tears and frustration,” she said. “Even though from a generic standpoint, it’s better for them, they don’t understand that. It all feels very foreign. It doesn’t matter how much better it is, it’s different and different is hard to deal with.”

Kristen said she expects the girls will go through a naturally, healthy period of grief for the loss of the life they had before.

Also, she said, she knows they will at some point need to come to terms with the trauma of experiencing the earthquake and all the death and destruction that came with it.

“It’s going to start with tears, and we may not get where those tears are coming from,” Kristen said.

“Hopefully as their language skills develop, we’ll be able to talk about it. It could be a while before they feel safe enough to go there. The safer they feel, the sooner they’re going to deal with it.”

In the meantime, Kristen said, she will work to build up that trust through a regular routine and family environment.

The girls came into their new home with beds of their own, bulletin boards with their names on them and a family calling them their own.

“I think they have that sense that this is home,” Kristen said.

Also, though they will ease into home schooling – Kristen home schools all eight of her other children – they did some school work Thursday, their first day home, and also helped with morning chores.

“They seem to be really eager to participate,” she said. “We’re just going to try and make things pretty structured and routine and build that sense of security and regularity.”

The girls did have some schooling at their Haitian orphanage, and Kristen said Florencia can read some English and estimates she is at a first-to-second-grade level.

Viergine, she said, knows her ABCs.

Kristen said the girls have bonded quickly with their siblings.

“It’s been really neat to see the interactions between them already,” she said.

While she said she knows there will be many adjustments to make, everything from language to food to organizing school, Kristen said the family will take it one day at a time and learn as they go.

What’s important, she said, is that their family is finally together.

“For four years, we were kind of in limbo,” she said. “I sort of had eight children and I sort of had 10 children. It was a weird way to live.

“When we tucked everybody in bed last night, there was just this peace, like everybody’s here. It happened. It really happened. It feels good and it feels right.” Reach Melissa Smith at
rrreporter@rangerreview.com.

Obituaries

The following obituaries appeared in The Ranger-Review the week of January 31, 2010.

Lucille McDanold, 84, passed away on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 at the Eastern Montana Veterans Home in Glendive.

Robert “Bob” Elmond Anderson, 57, passed away on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 at the Glendive Medical Center in Glendive.

Erwin A. Roesler, 85, Eureka, S.D., died Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 at the Eureka Community Hospital.

Walter V. Bryhn, 65, passed away on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at the St. Vincent Health Center in Billings.

Kevin Clarence Kuehn, 51, of Terry, passed away Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 at the Prairie County Healthcare Center in Terry as a result of a ranching accident.

Robert Eugene Lokken, 81, lifelong resident of Circle, passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010 at the McCone County Health Center in Circle.

Lindy Schipman, 64, passed away on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010 at the Glendive Medical Center in Glendive.

SPORTS

Red Devils improve in Eastern A

By Kevin Miller
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

The Red Devils improved their conference record to 6-1 after defeating the Cowboys from Miles City by the final of 67 to 52. The home win Saturday night moved the Devils overall mark to 9-4. The 6-1 record in the Eastern A puts DCHS second in the league behind Laurel.

Glendive scored first in the contest with a two-point goal, but Miles City soon tied it a 2-2. Bryce Benson then scored inside for the Devils to give them a lead they would never relinquish. By the end of the 1st period the Red Devils had built their lead to 10 points, 18-8. Cooper Fink scored the last four points of the quarter for Glendive after the Cowboys had closed to within six, 14-8. Fink went on to take game-high scoring honors with 22.

The Devils would extend their lead in the second quarter to 15 points, 26-11, following a pair of free throws from senior Christian Hannesson. Josh Hill, another Red Devil senior, scored the final bucket of the half. Hill’s two points gave Glendive their largest lead of the half. At the break the Devils led 34-16.

The Red Devils continued to take it at the Cowboys in the third quarter. Glendive got hot from outside in the third. Fink drilled two shots from 3-point range while Cody Sevier and Benson each hit one shot from behind the arc. Fink’s second 3-pointer gave the Devils a 24-point advantage, their largest of the game. Sevier’s 3-pointer came just before the end of the quarter and it gave the home team a 53-32 lead with just eight minutes to play.

The Cowboys continued to battle until the end. The 4th quarter was the best offensive quarter of the ballgame for Miles City. They wound up outscoring their long time rivals 20-14 in the final frame, but could get no closer than 13 points. Benson connected on four free throws in the 4th and Hannesson netted 5 points in the quarter. Hannesson finished with 21 points.

Tyler Essex paced the Cowboys with 16 points. Benson added 12 points for DCHS.

Coach Wade Murphy stated: “The kids did a good job bouncing back on Saturday. They were a lot more focused and ready to play. Hopefully, we learned something from Friday night’s loss.”

This was the final home game for four DCHS seniors. Honored before the start of the game, were seniors Christian Hannesson, Josh Hill, Scott Athas and Darien Saeman.

Next up for the DCHS boys basketball team is a trip to Colstrip to tangle with the Colts.

“Colstrip will be another good test for us. We have to learn to be prepared and mentally focused to play on the road,” Murphy said.

The game against the Eagles in Sidney that was originally on the schedule for this Thursday is now set for Tuesday, Feb. 16. The Red Devils will also make up the game that was postponed against Wolf Point. This game has been rescheduled for Feb. 9 in Wolf Point.

DCHS 18 16 19 14 - 67
Miles City 8 8 16 20 - 52

Red Devils scoring: Sevier 4, Athas 3, Hill 5, Hannesson 21, Fink 22, Benson 12

Cowboys scoring: Howe 5, Essex 16, Larson 10, E. Murnin 7, Askin 2, K. Murnin 4, Armstrong 4, Hess 4. Reach Kevin Miller at rrsports@rangerreview.com.

Lady Devils win, boys lose in Glasgow

By Kevin Miller
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

Both the boys and girls basketball teams from Dawson County High School traveled to Glasgow last Friday for non-conference games with the Scotties. The Lady Red Devils prevailed by the final of 47-34. However, the Red Devils fell to the Scotties by ten, 69-59.

The Lady Devils, playing without an injured Carly Selvig, took the lead at 5-3 on a bucket by Katie Turner. After this point, Glendive never trailed again.

Blair Milne had the big game for the Devils. Milne scored 13 points, seven in the first quarter, and pulled down 13 rebounds.

The Lady Devils held a five-point lead after one, and a six-point advantage at the half. Katy Peterson and Kallie Madler stepped up in the absence of Selvig. Peterson scored a basket in both the first and second periods. Madler contributed with three points before the break.

Sophomore Devyn Asche came off the bench and added a big spark in the third quarter. Asche hit two shots from 3-point range in the third and another in the fourth. Asche finished with nine. DCHS was able to extend their lead to 11 points, 37-26, before the start of the final frame.

In the fourth the Red Devils went to the charity stripe six times and converted this into five points. Glendive held Glasgow to eight points in the fourth and held on for the 13-point win.

“This was a satisfying performance on the road without Carly, due to a sprained ankle suffered the night before in Miles City,” Coach Richy Powell said. “It was a nice defensive effort again and we are showing some improvement on the offensive end. All of our players contributed a positive performance to get the win.”

Bryce Benson scored the first point of the game for Glendive from the free throw line. He would score three more from the line to help the Devils start with a 6-3 lead.

Glasgow would however take over from there. Once the Scotties would take the lead at 7-6, they would not relinquish it. The first quarter ended 15-9, Glasgow.

Cody Sevier shot a three-pointer to add to a free throw. These points were four of only five scored by the Devils in the second. Glasgow extended their lead by earning ten points in the period. The halftime score would read, 25-14.

The Devils offensive picked up in the second half. Josh Hill was able to convert for nine points in the half and Cooper Fink also added nine.

Christian Hannesson contributed 11 of his team high 14 in the fourth quarter. Glendive outscored the Scotties 32-24 in the last stanza. They shot four three’s in the fourth. This was not enough to make up for the deficit they were in at the midway point.

The girls will travel to Colstrip Feb. 6.

“Sidney is currently the leader in the Eastern A with their only loss coming at Miles City early in the year when Jordan Sullivan was out due to an ankle injury. It is obviously a big game for us as we try to prepare for the end of the season. Colstrip on Saturday in Colstrip will also be a challenge. We defeated them by a large margin last month but going to their place will be a different situation,” Powell said. “We are dealing with some injuries and hoping that Carly’s ankle will heal enough for her to play. We have some girls that have been dealing with some issues health wise all year and we are working toward getting our best performances as we close the season.”

DCHS 13 13 11 10 - 47
Glasgow 8 12 6 8 - 34

Red Devils scoring: Milne 13, Turner 5, Sampson 4, Skillestad 3, Zander 6, Madler 3, Asche 9, Peterson 4

Scotties scoring: T. Markle 7, Johnson 2, Sukut 6, Fossum 10, Reyling 3, K. Markle 1, Wetzel 5

DCHS 9 5 13 32 -59
GHS 15 10 20 24 -69

Devil scoring: Hannesson 14, Benson 9, Hill 9, Fink 9, Sevier 7, Athas 6, Saeman 3, Ketner 2

Scottie scoring: Page 18, Croy 12, Schmitt 11, Gordon 10, Hughes 9, Billingsley 6, Hopkins 3
Reach Kevin Miller at rrsports@rangerreview.com.

Wrestlers compete in divisionals Saturday

By Jamie Ausk Crisafulli
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

Dawson County High School will host the Eastern A Divisional Wrestling Tournament Saturday.

DCHS, Miles City, Hardin, Sidney, Laurel and Billings Central will compete.

The event is sure to provide some good action for wrestling spectators. Red Devil Coach Tim Zody said he feels Eastern A is the most competitive conference in the state.

“In the three other divisions there are probably two good teams in each, followed by some average teams. We have four very competitive teams in the east,” he said.

The Red Devils will fill all but one weight class at the Divisional Tournament.

Teams are allowed to enter one wrestler in each weight division and enter four, wrestlers in four other weights but no more than two in a weight for a total of 19. Because the DCHS team does not have 112 filled, the Red Devils will enter 18 at Divisionals.

The DCHS lineup for this weekend will be as follows:
98 Tyler Kinn, Tyler Forcella
105 Travis Kaufman
112 Open
119 Jesse Griffith, Tyler Orchard
125 Layne Lantis, Luke Robinson or Joe Schieffer
130 Cole Bilbrey
135 Garret Tennant, Alex Palmer
140 Dillon Beeler
145 Kyle Rushing
152 Jake Scheetz or Ejay Stuen
160 Jake Scheetz or Ejay Stuen
171 Eli Bachmeier
189 Sundance Kemp
215 Trevor Conrad
285 Brock Martin

Junior Eli Bachmeier will likely fill in at the 171 pound weight class for divisionals as it looks doubtful Garret Ceynar, who has been ranked this year, probably will not be able to compete this week due to nagging back injury.

“I believe Garret, who has not wrestled the past two years had a good chance to do well at divisionals and maybe at state,” said Zody.

The Glendive coach said the divisional team title is anyone’s guess.

“Sidney, Laurel, Hardin, and Glendive all have a chance, and it will come down to how many of these second wrestlers that you can enter, can advance to state. Everyone seems to have a group of good wrestlers and how they match up in the division will make a big difference,” said Zody.

“I believe we have a better big tournament team than a tournament like a divisionals.”

He said the Red Devils count on a group of wrestlers to carry the rest of the team.

“In order for us to win the Divisionals, we will need to put forth the best effort of the year and everyone, and I mean everyone, will have to bring their best effort for one day,” Zody said. “What we want is to move as many of our wrestlers on to the state meet, no matter what our team position is at Divisionals. It’s about numbers at state.”

The top four in each weight group advance to state.
Wrestling will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. The championship will take place at 5:30 p.m. with team awards scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Wrestlers do well

By Jamie Ausk Crisafulli
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

The Dawson County High School wrestlers finished an impressive regular season in Hardin over the weekend at the Hardin Invitational.

The Red Devil wrestling team began the year with 29 wrestlers, the highest turnout the program has seen in decades. One wrestler transferred schools and four others are injured as the regular season comes to a close.

Several Red Devils have been ranked in the top six throughout the season, and the team has been ranked on coaches’ power polls as well.

“I am very please with this group of young men,” Coach Tim Zody said.

Saturday’s competition in Hardin gave the wrestlers some quality mat time, something the athletes needed as they head in to the divisional competition this weekend in Glendive.

Every wrestlers received three to five matches in Hardin.

No team scores were kept during the Hardin tournament. Individual records and season records for the Red Devils are as follows:
98 Tyler Kinn (freshman) – Hardin tournament record 4-0; season record, 31-4
98 Tyler Forcella (freshman) – 2-2; 15-13
105 Travis Kaufman (freshman) – 4-1; 25-11
119 Jesse Griffith (junior) – 3-0; 30-5
119 Tyler Orchard (sophomore) – 3-1; 20-5
119 Joe Scheiffer (sophomore) – 3-0; 18-6
125 Layne Lantis (freshman) – 3-1, 25-12
125 Anthony Berg (freshman) – 1-3; 1-5
125 Luke Robinson (junior) – 1-3; 13-16
130 Cole Bilbrey (freshman) – 1-1; 19-17
130 Jesse Richardson (freshman) – 2-1; 4-3
130 Bryant Grimes (sophomore) – 2-1; 12-7
135 Garret Tennant (senior) – 3-0; 31-3
135 Alex Palmer (senior) - 1-1; 9-14
135 Cedric Melton (sophomore) – 2-2; 4-8
135 Jimmie Skelton (freshman) – 2-0; 4-1
140 Dillon Beeler (freshman) – 3-1; 13-12
145 Kyle Rushing (freshman) – 2-2; 19-14
152 Jake Scheetz (sophomore) – 0-4; 13-23
152 Ejay Stuen (freshman) – 2-2; 17-13
152 Cody Keiser (freshman) – n/a, n/a
160 Eli Bachmeier (junior) – 2-2; n/a
215 Brock Martin (freshman) – 0-4; n/a
285 Trevor Conrad (junior) – 5-0; 30-11

Trevor Conrad had an outstanding day for the Red Devils. Conrad went 5-0 in the heavy weight division, wrestling up a weight class from his regular 215 pound class.

“Trevor decided he would wrestle up a weight class, just to test the waters,” Zody said.
Conrad weighed in at 208 pounds, and the average weight of his five opponents was 261 pounds, which meant he was giving up about 50 pounds.

His best match was to Hensleigh of Colstrip. Conrad trailed 3-0 at the start of the third period. He chose the down position to start the third period and Hensleigh received a penalty point for clasping. Conrad then got an escape to trail 3-2 and with about 15 seconds to go, he got a takedown to win the match 4-3.

Eli Bachmeier had a good day as well, said Zody, getting a couple of wins and showing nice improvement. Bachmeier was injured for the first part of the a season and has only about a year of wrestling experience.

Zody said other young wrestlers who have shown nice improvement this year are Bryant Grimes and Cedric Melton, both first-year sophomores, and Jimmie Skelton and Anthony Berg, first-year freshmen.

“None of these boy have wrestled before and Jimmie and Anthony both came out late,” Zody said. “They have all shown great promise and if they continue to work hard can be contributors in the future.”

Miles City beat Bucs 75-62

By Kevin Miller
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

The Pioneers used a strong first half to defeat the Buccaneers 75-62 Saturday in men’s basketball action. Miles built a 10-point halftime lead, 39-29, on their way to the 13-point win over Dawson.

Chris Davenport was the top scorer for the Bucs with 13 points. Davenport also had six rebounds. Briahn Smith led all scorers on the night. Smith put in 18 points for MCC. DeMarlow Simmons added 11 points for DCC.

The Pioneers never trailed in the contest. As a team, MCC shot 41 percent from the field (24-58) and went 18 for 26 from the stripe. Smith led four Pioneer players in double figures.

“We came out and did not take care of the ball. We gave them too many uncontested shots and trailed by 10 at the half,” Coach Don Mast said.

Mike Chinn hauled down seven boards for the Bucs. Chinn was also one of three Buccaneers to contribute with seven points. Mike Black and Karlton Brown also had seven points each for Dawson.

“Once again, we had more turnovers than assists. I do not know many teams that win that way,” Mast said.

The Bucs return home for a contest on Feb. 6 with Lake Region. Monday DCC played at Little Big Horn College.

DCC 29 33 - 62
MCC 39 36 - 75

Bucs scoring: Black 7, Brown 7, Chinn 7, Davenport 13, Davis 2, Dinkel 6, Gutesa 2, Myricks 5, Simmons 11, Whiting 2

Pioneers scoring: Bayo 14, Bottin 7, Brown 10, Ori 13, Perry 4, Robbins 2, Smith 18, Sparkman 7. Reach Kevin Miller at rrsports@rangerreview.com.

Lady Bucs lose after difficult second half

By Kevin Miller
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

The second half of action again proved to be the downfall for the Lady Buccaneers. The Lady Pioneers from Miles Community College outscored the Bucs 49-25 in the second half of the game on Saturday. DCC trailed by just eight points at the break, but MCC’s run after intermission led the home team to an 88-56 victory.

Brittney Ceaser turned in a big performance for Dawson. Ceaser led the Bucs in scoring with 22 points. She went eight for 10 from the charity stripe and was successful on seven of her 13 field goal attempts. Fusi Lutui was almost perfect on the night for the Pioneers. Lutui was eight of nine from the floor and was a perfect 7-7 from the line. She finished with a total of 23 points.

Tia Emerson and Krista Williams finished in double figures for the Buccaneers. Emerson had 14 points, including four successful attempts from 3-point range. Williams was four for five from the field and also collected five rebounds.

The Buccaneers never led in this contest. They shot 39 percent from the floor and were 16-22 from the free throw line. The Pioneers shot 56 percent from the field for the game and were 17-23 from the line.
The Lady Buccaneers will be in action at home on Feb. 6 against Lake Region from Devils Lake, North Dakota.

DCC 31 25 - 56
MCC 39 49 - 88

Bucs scoring: Ceaser 22, Emerson 14, Faltus 2, Sheeran 4, Talerico 4, Williams 10

Pioneers scoring: Ingram 3, Jansone 6, Johnson 2, Kirkpatrick 4, Lutui 23, Murphy 12, Plavijanin 17, Samuels 5, Stevanovic 2, Thurston 6, Tramelli 8. Reach Kevin Miller at rrsports@rangerreview.com.