Stutsman County Invitational Girls’ Basketball Tournament
Edgeley-Kulm, Napoleon, Ellendale and Midkota all survived the opening round of the Class B girls’ Stutsman County Tournament at the Civic Center on Friday.By: Michael Savaloja, The Jamestown Sun
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Edgeley-Kulm, Napoleon, Ellendale and Midkota all survived the opening round of the Class B girls’ Stutsman County Tournament at the Civic Center on Friday.
Edgeley-Kulm trailed the entire way against Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal, until a single free throw by 6-foot junior Jessa Lindgren with just 2 seconds left in the game handed the Rebels a 31-30 victory over P-B-K.
Behind a steady dose of defensive intensity and ball pressure, the tournament’s No. 1-seeded Napoleon Imperials sailed past the Central Prairie Firebirds 73-35.
Ellendale matched up with LaMoure in a contest where both teams struggled mightily to find the hoop. But Ellendale did just enough things right to find a way past the Loboes 35-19.
And, Midkota eighth-grader Shaye Ronningen scored eight of her game-high 16 points in the final period, lifting the Mustangs to a 45-37 win over Sheridan County in the final game of the evening.
The tournament resumes today with Central Prairie facing Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal and LaMoure tipping off with Sheridan County in consolation play. Napoleon will face off with Edgeley-Kulm in semifinal game No. 1, with Ellendale vs. Midkota to follow.
Games begin at 3 p.m.
E-K 31, P-B-K 30
After the first free throw attempt by Jessa Lindgren clanked off the iron as her team was tied with Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal 30-30 with 2 seconds to play, Edgeley-Kulm coach Jason Carroll called a timeout.
“I wanted to settle her down,” Carroll said.
Finding the basket was nearly mission impossible for either team during the game, and Carroll wanted the game to end with Lindgren at the line and not in OT.
The coach’s strategy worked.
Lindgren sank free throw No. 2 to send the Rebels to the semifinals.
“I was confident she’d make one of the two, but it would have been nice to see that first one go in,” Carroll said. “I don’t think either team played spectacular, but anytime you play P-B-K you have to be ready to go. They’re scrappy and get after it
“We came away with the win, but they made it difficult for us.”
The Rebels shot an abysmal 4 of 21 from the floor in the first half and trailed 19-10 at the break. E-K ended only sinking 13 of 42 total shots.
But P-B-K struggled as well, converting just 11 of 40 shots from the floor in the game.
Lindgren scored eight of the team’s 10 points in the first two periods, and scored six more in the third to help E-K cut P-B-K’s lead to 27-23 to start the fourth. Lindgren posted a game-high 17 points, with most of those points coming off the outside jump shot. She also ended with 13 rebounds.
“She did a nice job of hitting her shots when opportunities down low weren’t there for her,” Carroll said. “P-B-K did a nice job of guarding her in the block.”
The Rebels held P-B-K to just three points in the final period of play and tied the score at 30-all with 25 seconds to go on a layup by Brittany Nitschke. Moments later, defensive pressure by Nitschke created a loose ball which found the hands of Dakota Hoots. Hoots got the ball up the floor to the breaking Lindgren, setting up the final heroics at the line.
Edgeley-Kulm had trailed since Sierra Sand’s opening bucket in the first. Sand posted eight points for P-B-K. P-B-K was led by Kelly Carlson with three treys and 12 points, while Rebecca Andres posted an additional eight points for E-K.
Carroll said his team is going to need to find the bucket with more frequency if they want to find success against the Imperials this evening.
“I’m sure they’re going to pressure us. That’s their style,” Carroll said. “But I’m not sure what we’ll be able to do if we don’t hit more shots. If we shoot this way against Napoleon, it’s going to be a long night.”
Ellendale 35, LaMoure 19
The shooting woes from the E-K/P-B-K matchup were contagious.
Ellendale sank 16 of 58 attempts from the field, but with LaMoure making good on just 7 of 45 attempts it was just a matter of if the Cardinals could close the deal.
“Fundamentally, I don’t think we played as well as we could have,” Ellendale coach Matt Herman said. “Our intensity just wasn’t there like we thought it would be. We played just well enough to win.”
Just as the prior game unfolded, if either the Cards or the Loboes could have hit a couple of back-to-back shots to get on a run, the game would have probably been over. Ellendale held the Loboes to just nine first-half points, but only led by six (15-9) at halftime.
Meg Martin led the Cards in the opening two periods with six of her eight points, while LaMoure hit just a single shot from the field in the second.
Ellendale broke things open in the third with 13 points. And in this one, the Cards’ 28-16 lead after three was more than enough to hang on.
“I thought the first three quarters we played decent defensively,” Herman said. “But we let up in the fourth when I thought we could have turned it on and put it away.
“We’re happy with the win, but we’ve got to find a level of intensity and we have to find a way to bring that everyday.”
Kiley Fuller also had eight points to help pace the Cardinals. LaMoure was led by Courtney Klever with six.
Midkota 45, Sheridan Co. 37
Midkota broke up a 20-20 halftime score with all of Kallie Frappier’s six points in the third period and eight of Shaye Ronningen’s 16 in the fourth, downing the Coyotes by eight.
The win not only granted the Mustangs a semifinal berth against Ellendale, but the victory was also Midkota’s first victory of the season.
“It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win,” Midkota coach Kyle Frappier said, “and a win is a win for us right now.”
Ronningen and another go-to player for the Mustangs, freshman Emily Berge, are both recuperating from multiple ankle sprains already suffered this season. But the four sore joints on the floor didn’t appear to hamper the team effort.
Berge dropped in an additional eight points in the game.
“We knew we’d be a little slower with the ankle injuries we’ve suffered, but we did enough to win,” Frappier said. “Shaye stepped up for us in the fourth. When she looks to score she has good offensive skills.”
Sheridan County was led by Kimberly Tkach with 14 points. The Coyotes converted just 16 of 55 shots in the game, while the Mustangs made good on 22 of 51.
Midkota met up with Ellendale in last year’s Stutsman County Tournament, and Frappier explained he’s hoping the team’s first win can give the girls a boost of momentum heading into today’s game.
“They return everyone from last year like we do. Hopefully, we’ll play with them better this time around,” Frappier said. “It was a good matchup last year. I’m sure it will be a good game.”
Napoleon 73, Cent. Prairie 35
Napoleon kicked off its first appearance in the Stutsman County Tournament with the type of defensive intensity that would make any coach proud.
The Imperials racked up 20 steals and helped create a total of 32 Central Prairie turnovers as Napoleon rolled past the Firebirds by 38 points.
Rikki Schmidt led the team with five steals in the game, while Sheridon Dewald stole four, as the Imperials led 24-8 lead after the first eight minutes behind 11 of Dewald’s game-high 17 points.
Schmidt finished with 12 points, while Kendra Weigel tossed in 15 for Napoleon.
“We try to pressure the ball as much as we can. We’ve got a lot of team speed and we have a much better full-court game than a half-court game,” Napoleon coach Dacry Lehr said.
The only place the Imperials struggled during the game was at the free throw line. Napoleon converted only 8 of 17 attempts at the charity stripe in the first half, ending the game making good on 15 of 31.
“We’re definitely used to smaller gyms,” Lehr said. “But I thought we adjusted well in the second half.”
Napoleon was one of the few teams that didn’t struggle to find the hoop during the tourney’s opening day. The Imperials sank 29 of 61 shots in the contest.
After trailing 36-13 at the half, the Firebirds cut the lead to just 14 points behind a 10-0 run early in the third. The Firebirds’ Sasha Krapp, JaSondra Dockter and Alecia Krapp all knocked down three-pointers to bring the Napoleon lead to 40-26.
But the Imperials used a 10-0 run of their own later in the period to seal up the win.
“They got some open looks and knocked them down. We were slow jumping out on their shooters and they hit them,” Lehr said.
Napoleon ended the game outrebounding the Firebirds 38-27, led by Shenille Laber with seven boards. Central Prairie was paced by Alecia Krapp with 15 points.
Stutsman County Girls’ Basketball Tournament at Jamestown
Quarterfinal games
Napoleon 73, Central Prairie 35
Central Prairie 8 13 29 35
Napoleon 24 36 55 73
Central Prairie — Alecia Krapp 15, JaSondra Dockter 7, Sasha Krapp 7, Jordan Spitzer 2, Cyerra Schmidt 2, Lindsay Anderson 2. Totals: 15-42 FG, 2-6 FT, 21 fouls. Three-pointers: S. Krapp 1, Dockter 1, A. Krapp 1.
Napoleon — Sheridon Dewald 17, Kendra Weigel 15, Rikki Schmidt 12, Mikayla Young 8, Maria Jangula 6, Shenille Laber 5, Brenna Schmidt 4, Brianna Wolf 2, Kecia Ellison 2, Kayla Gross 2. Totals: 29-61 FG, 15-31 FT, 15 fouls.
Records: Napoleon 3-0; Central Prairie 0-3.
Edgeley-Kulm 31, Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal 30
P-B-K 11 19 27 30
E-K 4 10 23 31
P-B-K — Kelly Carlson 12, Sierra Sand 8, Jacie Pfaff 4, Shelby Backer 3, Jacqueline Thomas 3. Totals: 11-40 FG, 4-8 FT, 11 fouls. Three-pointers: Carlson 3, Thomas 1.
E-K — Jessa Lindgren 17, Rebecca Andres 8, Anna Isaacson 2, Dakota Hoots 2, Brittany Nitschke 2. Totals: 13-42 FG, 4-6 FT, 9 fouls. Three-pointers: Andres 1.
Records: Edgeley-Kulm 2-1; Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal 1-3.
Ellendale 35, LaMoure 19
LaMoure 4 9 16 19
Ellendale 7 15 28 35
LaMoure — Courtney Klever 6, Kiki Bickford 4, Becky Watkins 4, Sarah Holen 3, Mackenzie Bickford 1, Halie Gentzkow 1. Totals: 7-45 FG, 4-9 FT, 9 fouls. Three-pointers: Holen 1.
Ellendale — Kiley Fuller 8, Meg Martin 8, Kinsey Holm 7, Kelsey Mertz 6, Brianna Vance 4, Jamie Diemert 2. Totals: 16-58 FG, 1-4 FT, 9 fouls. Three-pointers: Fuller 2.
Records: Ellendale 2-0; LaMoure 0-3.
Midkota 45, Sheridan County 37
Sheridan Co. 13 20 30 37
Midkota 10 20 32 45
Sheridan Co. — Kimberly Tkach 14, Abigail Martwick 6, Karissa Erdmann 6, Neilie Dockter 5, Jacy Hausauer 3, Taylor Gahner 2, Adrienne Martwick 1. Totals: 16-55 FG, 4-10 FT, 8 fouls. Three-pointers: Dockter 1.
Midkota — Shaye Ronningen 16, Emily Berge 8, Kallie Frappier 6, Lacey Harding 5, Krista Briss 4, Carly Ronningen 4, Caitlinn Harding 2. Totals: 22-51 FG, 1-2 FT, 6 fouls.
Records: Midkota 1-2; Sheridan County 0-2.
Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at mikes@jamestownsun.com
Tags: class b, stutsman county, sports, basketball, girls, tournament
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