Both Le Mars basketball teams staged double-digit comebacks to sweep Sioux Center on the road Tuesday night.
The No. 9 Le Mars girls defeated Sioux Center 55-40 after being down by as much as 12 points in the third quarter. The Bulldogs scored a meager 14 points in the first half of the game being shut down by Sioux Center’s zone defense that also featured some trapping. Le Mars head coach Sidney Baumgartner says the Bulldogs had to improve a lot of things heading into the second half.
Le Mars made those changes and then some as they outscored the Warriors 41-16 in the second half of the game. Le Mars got a big spark from Sarah Brown who led the team with 22 points. Eleven of those points came in the third quarter, and 17 came in the second half. Coach Baumgartner says the work they put into her shot in the holiday break already paid off.
While the Bulldogs are now 8-2, they are not content with how they have gotten that record. After a disappointing loss before the break and a rough start to the game against Sioux Center, coach Baumgartner says Le Mars knows there are some things they have to get better at.
The Bulldogs continue non-conference action this week at MOC-Floyd Valley on Thursday and hosting Storm Lake on Friday. Sioux Center fell to 5-5 on the season with the loss.
The Le Mars boys basketball team capped off the night with a 59-58 win coming behind from a 23-point deficit. The Bulldogs trailed 33-10 with just a couple of minutes left in the half. It was a very poorly-played first half of basketball that left head coach Cody Dyhrkopp grasping at straws when addressing the team at the halftime break.
The Bulldogs then started getting their mojo back by outscoring Sioux Center 21-6 in the third quarter with a 15-0 run that brough them back into the game. They trailed by two heading into the fourth quarter and kept with the Warriors all the way to the end. Coach Dyhrkopp says it was refreshing to see the team have so much fight in a very tough circumstance.
The game was decided with nine seconds left when Le Mars trailed by two and was guarding a Sioux Center inbound. The Warriors turned it over in the backcourt to Wanding Hosnyang who turned around and knocked down a three-pointer that gave the Bulldogs their first and only lead with three seconds left. He had 15 points to lead Le Mars, and Coach Dyhrkopp says he was making plays all night.
The Bulldogs have now won two of their last three and are 3-6 heading into a matchup with No. 8 MOC-Floyd Valley on Thursday and Storm Lake on Friday. Coach Dyhrkopp says he hopes this will always be a fuel for the guys to dig deep in future games.
Sioux Center dropped to 4-6 with the loss.
