Eagles off to flying start

An overwhelming 82-57 victory over Williston, N.D., was the way Sidney's girls began their season campaign Tuesday in Williston. Strong defensive pressure and an effective transition game helped Sidney build a 27-point, 47-20 lead at the half.

"I was very pleased with how we ran the court with our fast breaks. We ended up with some turnovers, but that will happen when you're running and gunning," Sidney Head Coach Kristen Lawrence said.

Penetrating drives by Vanessa Bawden and A.J. Johnson helped the Eagles to an early 5-2 lead to begin play. With a scoring offensive rebound by Ashley Thiel and three-point play by Jordan Sullivan, that advantage stretched to 10-3 with 13:55 left in the first half of play.

At this point, the Coyotes began to climb back into the game as Brittany Nice scored off an inbounds play and Williston connected on four consecutive free throws. The result - a 14-12 Sidney lead at the twelve-minute mark. Beginning to suffer some foul trouble with Williston in the bonus situation, the Eagles began to slack off their press.

"I'm not too worried about our offense, but we have a lot of work to do on our press. There's still some kinks to work out," Lawrence said.

Although an inside bucket by Thiel and scoring drive by Sullivan extended the Eagles' lead back to six, two more baskets by Williston's Nice again narrowed the gap back to two points, 18-16, with 9:20 left in the half.

At the 6:45 mark, Sidney's advantage stood at 25-20. Now is when the Eagles seriously took control of the game. Strong defensive rebounding and good transition helped Sidney to a 22-0 run to end the half. The huge run was started off with a breakaway bucket by Janae Moore, pull-up jumper by Sullivan and scoring offensive board by Sullivan.

With another inside basket by Thiel and steal and breakaway by Bawden, Sidney opened up a 35-20 lead with 4:37 left in the half. Another breakaway basket by Bawden and one from Johnson, along with a follow-up bucket by Thiel, highlighted a 12-0 run to finish out the half.

"I think we finally got the first-game jitters out of our system. We got a few fast-break layups and I think that helped the girls start to relax," Lawrence said.

Five minutes into the second half, Sidney's lead remained at 17 points, 51-24, when Williston's Abby Hagen and Kayla Kain scored from beyond the arc helping to narrow the Eagles' advantage back to 22 points with 11:51 remaining to play.

However, Sidney quickly responded behind a nice backdoor pass from Sullivan to Bawden and scoring offensive rebounds by Sullivan and Johnson. With seven minutes left to play, the Eagles found themselves leading by 30 points, 71-41. The Coyotes outscored Sidney 16-11 throughout the remainder of the game accounting for the 25-point Sidney win.

Leading the Eagles was Sullivan with 33 points and 11 rebounds. Moore ended play with 12 points and eight rebounds followed by A. Thiel with 10 points. Johnson and Bawden each netted nine. Hana Paladichuk and Laura Kuylen ended play with two points each. Whitney Thiel rounded out the scoring with a point.