Blue Hawks flying into midseason in different directions
Nov. 30—DICKINSON — "That's the way the ball bounces" has been a truer-than-true statement around the corner at the Dickinson State University campus and Scott Gymnasium, where the Blue Hawks men's and women's basketball teams are currently moving in different directions, despite abundant signs of potential as the two squads approach the Christmas break in a little more than a week's time. For the men — who have won four of their last five and are coming off a 108-107, nail-biting, home loss to Rocky Mountain on Saturday, Nov. 25 during the Milanovich Classic — the team has split the season in half at 5-5 and are ready to face Montana Western on Friday at home for the Coca-Cola Classic before closing out the event versus Carroll on Saturday, with both games beginning at 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, for the women's team the bounces often have been just a smidgen off, with a tough home loss to Rocky Mountain as well — 81-74 on Nov. 24 — that was preceded by road non-conference losses to North Star Athletic Association foes Valley City State, 74-63, and 62-56 to Mayville State at the Dakota Clash. All those preceded the 108-57 defeat at Montana on Monday, Nov. 27 and the Blue Hawks women's team is now sitting on a seven-game losing streak — despite beginning the season with a promising two wins — while facing a weekend road-trip to the Dakota State Classic in Madison, S.D.
All the while, one can see the silver-linings for both teams upon close inspection, with the men's team proudly touting the exploits of junior guard Kose Egbule, who had 27 points in 26 minutes in the Rocky Mountain loss, and fellow backcourt-mate and classmate John Evans, who rose to the Battlin' Bears' challenge to score 18. Meanwhile, the two are pacing the team with 13.9 and 12.8 points per game, respectively, while being followed by double-digit PPG averages of 12.8 for junior forward Gus Wright and 10.5 from sophomore forward Cordell Stinson.
Egbule and Stinson also are leading the Blue Hawks on the boards with 6.8 and 6.5 rebounds, respectively, while Evans is shooting 42.9% from the 3-point line and Stinson is at 50% from the field and neither too far behind each other in the same statistics.
Coming into the weekend, DSU fans can be grateful for a solid, 81.3 PPG team-average from the Blue Hawks, but the men's team suffered a 61-44 loss to Friday's competition Montana Western (5-3) on Nov. 4 before starting their four-game turnaround. DSU lost 70-59 to Carroll College in their last meeting in 2022, but the Fighting Saints also have cleaved their season in half and are 3-3 so far.
For the women's competitors over the weekend, which include a Friday matchup with Haskell Indian Nations University — who also stand at 2-7 overall and are suffering through a five-game losing skid — before the Saturday showdown against the College of the Ozarks Bobcats, who boast a blistering 6-2 overall record and three-game win streak.
While the women's team is averaging a respectable 68 PPG, the problematic part of the conversation lies in the 78.2 PPG allowed on the other side of the scoresheet. The team is a combined 43.8% from the field with 39.7% coming from the 3-point line and averaging a solid 37.3 RPG, and adds a 72.1% average from the charity-stripe, but the offensive numbers haven't added up in the transition-game.
"I think once you start losing a couple games, sometimes you can see the confidence in the girls start to drop a little bit, and we've kind of been working on that a lot in practice and kind of getting back to us," women's head basketball coach Eric Nelson said. "It's tough to win a college basketball game on the road — and then you're throwing multiple road-trips on top of each other — so we don't get to practice a whole lot, either; we're always gone so while I think we can definitely play better ... we've been really, really close in some games."
He added, "But, at the end of the day, it's about wins and losses and we just have to be able to make some of those winning plays late in the game."
Individually, the Blue Hawks are being paced by three double-digit scorers in junior guard Kayden Steele — with her 13.5 PPG — and junior center Samantha Oase's 13.1 PPG, while junior forward Katharine Fox is pouring in 11.8 PPG. The three also are, incidentally, the tops in boards with Oase's team-leading 6.7 RPG followed by Fox's 5.1 and Steele's 4.4. Meanwhile on offense, sophomore guard Kyrie Alldredge is shooting 56.3% from behind the arc and Fox leads the team from the field with a 49.2% average.
The teams' final games before the Christmas break will be at South Dakota for the women on Dec. 10 and at Jamestown for the men on Dec. 9. Neither team will begin their North Star Athletic Association schedule until after the new year, so there still is plenty of time for the team to improve and warm up in the meantime.
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