Basketball Recap: Nayati Bickerdyke's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Harding County over Mclaughlin

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Harding County can now relate to. They took a 50-43 hit to the loss column at the hands of the McLaughlin Mustangs on Tuesday. The Ranchers were given a dose of their own medicine in this game as the Mustangs apparently hadn't forgotten their defeat the last time these teams played back in January of 2015.

Nayati Bickerdyke

Points

03/04/25 vs McLaughlin	15
02/28/25 vs Bison	10
02/21/25 vs Edgemont	4
02/20/25 @ Hulett	10
02/17/25 vs Bowman County co-op [Bowman/Rhame]	3
+ 11 more games

Several Ranchers players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Nayati Bickerdyke, who posted 15 points and five boards. That's the most points Bickerdyke has posted since back in January. The team also got some help courtesy of Cohen Smith, who shot 43% from the field on his way to 17 points.

With the loss, Harding County broke their three-game winning streak and moved their record to 9-11. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 67.3 points over those games. As for McLaughlin, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 8-13 record this season.

Harding County does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for McLaughlin, they wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next game, a 60-43 defeat against Lemmon on the 7th.