The Becker Bulldog girls basketball team kicked off their regular season this week and came away with a split against two quality opponents.

 

The Lady Bulldogs lost a non-conference game Tuesday night to the Hopkins Royals, 93-52 at Becker.  

 

Hopkins is rated #1 in the state in the preseason polls and #17 nationally. Hopkins lost in the state title game last year to Elk River for their only loss, and are returning most of their players. 

 

Paige Bueckers led Hopkins with 22 points by slashing to the hoop with great balance and control.  Raina Suggs used her lightning quick first step to put up 19 points.  

 

“The pair were very difficult to contain,” said Head Coach Dan Baird.

 

 For Becker, Baird said “it was a great learning experience to play against such a good team.”  

 

“We are setting lofty goals and now the girls saw first-hand what that takes,” he said.  

 

Baird praised Hopkins Coach Brian Cosgriff, who he says does an excellent job demanding excellence from his players.  

 

Bulldog Haley Benda had an outstanding game with 17 points, hitting five-of-six three-pointers.  She also played outstanding defense for the home team, holding Angie Hammond to eight points.

 

Courtney Nuest was second on the team in scoring with 12 points.  Lexi Masog gave the Bulldogs a spark in the second half connecting on two long three's of her own.  Julia Bengtson scored nine and dazzled the crowd at times with an impressive dribbling display.  

 

“I was happy with our effort and not backing down to a great team,” said Baird.  “We can learn from this game and I expect that we will.”

 

The Bulldogs traveled to Delano Thursday and came away with a big win against the Tigers.

 

Nuest was the team’s leading scorer with 15 followed by Masog, who had 12. Benda (10 points) was Becker’s other player with double digits. 

 

The Bulldogs jumped out to a huge 36-8 lead by halftime and never looked back.

 

It was a nice bounce-back from Tuesday’s thumping versus Hopkins and Baird utilized pressure defense (1-3-1) to set the tempo early,  forcing a lot of turnovers. Bengtson and Tripp were getting tips and steals and were active in the zone.  

 

Nuest did well in her role as a scorer, connecting on three three-pointers.  Masog made four of her own for 12 points, displaying her range.  She has made six out of eight attempts to start the season.  

 

Benda played a great, all-around game by adding eight rebounds.  

 

Bengtson set the tempo for the game both offensively and defensively by stuffing the stat sheet.  She ended the game with nine points, six assists, five steals, four rebounds and only one turnover despite handling the ball most of the game.  

 

Becker shot the ball extremely well connecting on 12-of-23 three-pointers against Delano's 3-2 zone.

 

The Lady Bulldogs  (1-1) have a big section game Tuesday night at Willmar.  Friday, the boys and girls basketball teams host the Big Lake Hornets in a back-to-back feature starting at 5:45 p.m.