With a pair of wins over Mississippi 8 Conference foes in the past week, the Becker girls basketball team remains undefeated on the season with an 8-0 record.

Last Thursday, Becker hosted the Chisago Lakes Wildcats and came away with a 73-55 win.  Despite the nearly 20 point win, it felt like a closer game because Becker has been winning by such large margins so far this season.

Becker led 48-26 at halftime, but went cold in the second half to give the Wildcats some hope before the Bulldogs closed out the game with some tough defense.

“It was a good win, because we beat a good team and only shot 3-for-20 from the 3 point line and 10-for-20 from the [free throw] line which are both terrible,” said Coach Dan Baird.  “ Any other year we would lose those games with numbers like that.”

While the team was a bit off overall, Megan Gamble was on point, scoring 22 points and giving the Bulldogs an aggressive inside game.

“Megan Gamble had a nice game, battling with Sophie Wood who is the star on the other team,” said Baird. “We played bad and still beat a good team so that’s encouraging.”

Despite the cold shooting, Becker led in transition points 34-4, while also coming up with 22 steals as a team.  Their defensive pressure was also evident, forcing 32 Chisago Lakes turnovers.

Becker scoring: Adeline Kent 14 (5 steals), Maren Westin 5, Courtney Nuest 4, Julia Bengtson 13 (7 assists), Dani Nuest 6 (6 deflections), Ayla Brown 9, Gamble 22. 

Monday night, the Bulldogs went on the road and easily downed the North Branch Vikings, 91-26.

Becker again used its full court pressure to build an insurmountable lead, going into the locker room with a 53-14 advantage.

As has been the case in most games, Becker had yet another different player step up to lead the team offensively in the first half.  This time it was Maren Westin who scored 11 of her 16 points in the opening stanza to give Becker the big lead. 

“We shot 57% and won the turnover battle 39-12,” said coach Dan Baird.   “Maren Westin had a great game with 16 points, three rebounds, four steals and was efficient offensively, going 7-for-8 from field and no turnovers.”

Courtney Nuest (9 points) and Megan Gamble (10 points) also had big first halves for the Bulldogs, who are averaging 89 points per game.

Becker was able to run the open court at will, as the Bulldogs attempted just three free throws the entire game.  They also held North Branch to just 12 second half points and 11 field goals total in the game.

“Ayla Brown had a spectacular night with VPS of 5.5,  going 6-for-7 from field, three rebounds, and two steals,” said Baird.  “Megan Gamble had 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and six steals. Megan is having a great year.” 

Becker scoring: Kent 10, Westin 16, Alayna Lindquist 6, C. Nuest 11, Bengtson 10, D. Nuest 4, Gamble 17, Jackie Yoerg 2, Brown 15.

The Bulldogs are next scheduled to travel Monday evening to Chisago Lakes to take on the Wildcats before hosting Monticello in another Mississippi 8 Conference matchup Thursday evening.