District 5 girls basketball tournament: BCN nips Rebels
Barnes County North played the spoiler on Thursday night during the quarterfinal round of the District 5 girls’ basketball tournament at the Jamestown Civic Center. The No. 5-seeded Lady Bison came from behind to upend the No. 4-seeded Edgeley-Kulm Rebels 39-34 in the closing seconds. The rest of the opening round all went as planned.By: Michael Savaloja, The Jamestown Sun
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Barnes County North played the spoiler on Thursday night during the quarterfinal round of the District 5 girls’ basketball tournament at the Jamestown Civic Center.
The No. 5-seeded Lady Bison came from behind to upend the No. 4-seeded Edgeley-Kulm Rebels 39-34 in the closing seconds.
The rest of the opening round all went as planned.
No. 1-seeded Ellendale defeated Central Prairie 42-24, No. 2 seeded Litchville-Marion-Montpelier moved on with a 48-31 win over Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal and No. 3-seeded Valley City took care of business against Lamoure 55-41.
Loser out games begin at 3 p.m. today, with the semifinals to follow at 6:30 p.m. The first semifinal will pit Ellendale against Barnes County North, with L-M-M facing Valley City to follow.
BCN 39, Edgeley-Kulm 34
Barnes County North’s Allison Windish calmly sank 4 of 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds, and turned a steal into a coast-to-coast layup just before the buzzer for good measure, as the Lady Bison upset the Rebels.
“That last timeout we took, I kept telling the girls how bad do you want it,” BCN coach Randy Hooey said. “I’m proud of the girls. They stepped up to the challenge tonight.”
The game may have lacked an abundance of offensive fireworks, but what it didn’t lack was intensity.
The Bison and Rebels were deadlocked in a low-scoring defensive battle all evening, with the Bison seemingly playing catch-up throughout after trailing by four points at the end of one period and by six points (20-14) at the half.
But BCN went on to hold E-K to just four points on two field goals in the third to take a 25-24 lead to start the fourth.
The score was tied three times in the final frame, with the final tie coming with 3:52 remaining when the Rebels’ Jessa Lindgren converted a three-point play to knot it up at 31-31. But a key to the game for the Bison was that they never let the talented junior forward — Lindgren — take over in the final stages.
Lindgren finished the game with 13 points and 10 rebounds
“One of our focal points was Lindgren,” Hooey said. “We knew she was the girl we needed to shut down, but (the Rebels) did a good job of getting the ball out to their shooters.”
One of those girls was E-K’s Jennifer Erickson. Erickson buried three three-pointers in the game with her final trey pulling the Rebels to within one-point (35-34) with 18 seconds left on the clock.
Windish, however, went on to drain her last two free throws with 15 ticks left, and stole the ball away from the Rebels on their final possession and took it to the house.
Windish’s first set of charity shots came with 27 seconds left and put the Bison up by four points (35-31). Windish led the Rebels with 11 points.
“One of our Achilles heels this season has been free throws, and that’s what won us the game tonight,” Hooey said. “Allison was definitely the girl we wanted to get the ball to in that situation. She’s a solid performer for us.”
The Bison lost to the Rebels 50-39 earlier this season in Edgeley, and will now have to get past another team that’s had their number this season in the form of No. 1 seeded Ellendale.
BCN lost to Ellendale 55-33 during the Ellendale Holiday Tournament, and fell to the Cardinals a second time at home 40-37.
“As soon as we lost to Ellendale, the girls wanted them back,” Hooey said. “The girls are going to be rearing and ready tomorrow night.
“We knew when district time rolled around we had to be playing our best basketball and I feel that we are right now.”
L-M-M 48, PBK 31
It took some time before the defending champs got rolling in a first-round rematch of last season’s District 5 title tilt against Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal.
But when they did, the outcome was similar.
Litchville-Marion-Montpelier won its third straight crown by upending the Rebels of P-B-K 57-46 a year ago, and sent P-B-K to today’s loser-out competition by downing the Rebels 48-31.
L-M-M’s shooting hands were freezing cold in the first half of play. The team clanked 12 of 13 three-point attempts off the iron and finished the half converting just 9 of 34 shots from the floor.
On the other hand, Kelly Carlson got open for a pair of first-period three-pointers as the P-B-K Rebels opened the game on 4 of 5 shooting, compared to a 3 of 11 performance by L-M-M.
“Carlson got off to a quick start right away and we worked all week in practice getting ready for that,” L-M-M coach Dave Handt said. “But she’s a good ball player and they were able to set some picks for her.”
But L-M-M didn’t panic and led 23-18 at the half as the team’s defense picked up the slack before the offense finally came around after the break.
“The girls really communicated well on the defensive end, which helped relax us on the other end of the court,” Handt said, “knowing we’d make stops if the offense wasn’t clicking.”
L-M-M’s Amanda Valenta and Carly Van Bruggen both drilled treys in the third as the Rebels forged out a 35-25 lead to start the fourth. A second trey by Van Bruggen put L-M-M out front 40-27 with 5:11 left to play in the fourth and put the game out of reach for P-B-K.
Valenta tossed in 13 points and Sophie Miller chipped in with 9 more to pace L-M-M.
P-B-K was led by Carlson with eight points.
L-M-M continues its quest for four straight in today’s semifinals against Valley City at 8:15 p.m.
“Were excited for the opportunity to (four-peat), but the main goal is to get into the region,” Handt said. “I’m very happy with the way we played tonight.”
Ellendale 42, Central Prairie 24
The Firebirds struggled mightily to take care of the basketball all evening, and the Ellendale Cardinals took advantage.
Central Prairie posted 30 turnovers in the contest — throwing up more turnovers (7) than points (4) in the third period — while Ellendale’s Meg Martin and Kelsey Mertz combined for 20 points to help the Cards roll into the semifinals.
“We had eight stops in a row to start the game. We talk all the time that we want to get three stops in a row and we did that quite a few times tonight,” Ellendale coach Matt Herman said. “We live on our defense. That makes it go.”
But Ellendale also had its share of struggles, committing 17 turnovers in the contest and converting just 9 of 27 shots in the first half.
The Cards led 21-11 at the break behind 7 of Martin’s 10 points, and Mertz came alive in the second half for eight of her 10 points to spark Ellendale across the finish line.
“I thought we came out a little flat, and part of that could have been because we were playing the same team we played a week ago,” Herman said. “But if we are going to come out flat one night in this tournament this was the night to do it.”
Ellendale moves to 16-4 on the season, and will attempt to get past Barnes County North for the third time this season in today’s semifinals. The No. 1-seeded Cardinals last won the District 5 title in 1999.
Valley City 55, LaMoure 41
After posting 12 points in the first period against the Loboes, the No. 3-seeded Valley City Hi-Liner’s exploded to outscore No. 6-seeded LaMoure 20-8 in the second and never looked back.
Valley City’s Jenna Jacob posted 16 points in the contest, while teammate Allyson Suhr dropped in 14 and grabbed 8 rebounds.
Valley City crashed the boards against LaMoure, outrebounding the Loboes 47-31.
The Hi-Liner’s limited the Loboes to just 7 field goals in the first half and 8 in the second, as LaMoure ended the contest shooting just 28 percent.
LaMoure’s Halie Gentzkow led all scoring with 18 points.
District 5 Girls’ Basketball Tournament in Jamestown
Quarterfinals
(No. 1) Ellendale 42, (No. 8) Central Prairie 24
Central Prairie 7 11 15 24
Ellendale 7 21 34 42
Central Prairie — JaSondra Dockter 7, Lindsay Anderson 7, Alecia Krapp 5, Sasha Krapp 3, Jordan Zenker 2. Totals: 10-26 FG, 2-13 FT, 30 turnovers, 9 fouls. Three-pointers (2-4): Dockter 1, A. Krapp 1.
Ellendale — Meg Martin 10, Kelsey Mertz 10, Kinsey Holm 8, Kiley Fuller 6, McKenzie Betting 6, Brianna Vance 2. Totals: 18-50 FG, 6-8 FT, 17 turnovers, 13 fouls, 0-6 three-pointers.
Records: Ellendale 16-4; Central Prairie 0-20.
(No. 5) Barnes County North 39, (No. 4) Edgeley-Kulm 34
Barnes Co. North 6 14 25 39
Edgeley-Kulm 10 20 24 34
Barnes Co. North — Allison Windish 11, Andrea McMillan 8, Emily Albrecht 6, Jenna Gullickson 4, Sydney Reimers 4, SaraLi Petersen 2, Lauren McMillan 2, Sara Heinze 2. 14-36 FG, 11-13 FT, 15 turnovers, 13 fouls, 0-2 three-pointers.
Edgeley-Kulm — Jessa Lindgren 13 Jennifer Erickson 9, Rebecca Andres 7, Brittany Nitschke 2, Dakota Hoots 2, Miranda Brandenburg 1. Totals: 11-43 FG, 8-13 FT, 20 turnovers, 15 fouls. Three-pointers (4-9): Erickson 3, Andres 1.
Records: Barnes County North 7-13; Edgeley-Kulm 4-16.
(No. 2) Litchville-Marion-Montpelier 48, (No. 7) Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal 31
P-B-K 10 18 25 31
L-M-M 13 23 35 48
P-B-K — Kelly Carlson 8, Jacie Pfaff 6, Sierra Sand 6, Amanda Beckley 4, Jacqueline Thomas 3, Tara Uehran 2, Kirsten Albrecht 2. Totals: 11-36 FG, 7-13 FT, 10 turnovers, 15 fouls. Three-pointers (2-8): Carlson 2.
L-M-M — Amanda Valenta 13, Sophie Miller 9, Tracy Nelson 8, Carly Van Bruggen 6, Sydney Headland 5, Cassandra Fick 3, Sterling Hansen 2, Brenna Rodin 2. Totals: 17-56 FG, 10-14 FT, 10 turnovers, 15 fouls. Three-pointers: (4-22): Van Bruggen 2, Valenta 1, Fick 1.
Records: Litchville-Marion-Montpelier 14-5; Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal 7-12.
(No. 3) Valley City 55, (No. 6) LaMoure 41
LaMoure 11 19 25 41
Valley City 12 32 45 55
LaMoure — Halie Gentzkow 18, Becky Watkins 12, Kiki Bickford 5, Erika Armitage 3, Sarah Holen 2, Courtney Klever 1. Totals: 15-53 FG, 7-15 FT, 17 turnovers, 17 fouls (Holen). Three-pointers (4-17): Gentzkow 4.
Valley City — Jenna Jacob 16, Allyson Suhr 14, Mariah Olstad 12, Haley Larson 6, Sammy Johnson 4, McKenzie Schweitzer 3. Totals: 25-56 FG, 5-12 FT, 15 turnovers, 18 fouls (Larson), 0-1 three-pointers.
Records: Valley City 8-11; LaMoure 3-18.
Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or be email at mikes@jamestownsun.com
Tags: class b, high school, district 5, sports, basketball, girls, tournament
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