The Becker Bulldog girls basketball team was dominant in a pair of wins over the past week, as last Friday they downed the Annandale Cardinals 88-43 before picking up a convincing win Tuesday night over the St. Cloud Crush, 97-29. In the second win, Dani Nuest set a pair of school records for the Bulldogs with a historic offensive explosion.

Cards

Becker raced to a 58-26 halftime lead over the Cardinals, as the Bulldogs held an advantage in every statistical category. Annandale managed just one three-point field goal on 14 attempts, while Becker shot 12-for-27 from beyond the arc.

Offensively, Becker was able to do whatever they pleased as their shooters hit on over 50% of their attempts from the floor in the game.

“Addy Kent had 21 points, six rebounds, six assists, four steals on 9-for-12 shooting for a spectacular performance,” said Coach Dan Baird. “Dani Nuest had five three’s and 24 points.”

Becker had just eight turnovers in the game, while the Cardinals were forced into 20; the Bulldogs turned that discrepancy into a 27-5 advantage in points off turnovers.

Becker scoring: Nuest 24 (eight assists), Ayla Brown 13, Kent 21, Alexis Rose 13 (three steals), Maren Westin 11, Hannah Dierkes two, Reese Hausmann two, Madison Bass two. 

Crushed

In Tuesday’s win, it was the Dani Nuest show for the Bulldogs, as both her 39 points and her nine three-point field goals were good enough for school records.

“Dani set a school record for 39 points in a game and she also hit nine threes on 9-for-13 shooting from the three point line and 15-for-19 [shooting] overall,” said Baird. “Maren Westin also shined all around with eight points, eight assists, and seven steals.”

The Crush is a cooperative from St. Cloud that combines athletes from both St. Cloud high schools – Tech and Apollo – but even with the huge enrollment advantage, their team didn’t have an answer for the Bulldogs.

The halftime lead for Becker was 62-20 and a total of 12 players saw action for the Bulldogs, with eight hitting the scoring column.

Becker was 19-for-33 from beyond the three-point line, while the Crush missed on all five of their attempts. Becker also forced 34 St. Cloud turnovers and turned those into 45 Bulldog points - nearly half of their game total.

Becker scoring: Nuest 39 (six assists, three steals), Kent 21 (six assists, four steals), Brown 14 (five assists, three steals), Westin eight, Rose eight, Dierkes three, Hausmann one, Liz Mackedanz one.

Becker’s next action was last night (Friday) as the team hosted Big Lake in a border battle matchup that was also scheduled to be Becker’s youth night.  Look for results from the sure to be packed-gymnasium affair in next week’s Patriot.