Bison rally to beat Firebirds

• Guarded

Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal’s Kelly Carlson (left) is guarded by Edgeley-Kulm’s Kaitlin Ost during the District 5 Girls’ Basketball Tournament in Jamestown on Friday. P-B-K won by the final of 63-27. (John M. Steiner / The Sun)

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With 30 seconds to play in the opening half, Barnes County North’s Calby Hanson hit a jumper from the right baseline that cut Central Prairie’s lead in half.

BCN still trailed at the break, but that single 12-footer gave the Bison a must-needed jolt at the end of an otherwise sluggish second quarter.

The bucket was the first field goal hit by the Bison in six minutes and was the first points in over two minutes.

BCN continued to roll in the second half as the Bison rallied with a 26-point second half to defeat the Firebirds 48-41 on Friday in the final game of the opening day at the District 5 tournament at the Jamestown Civic Center.

“I just try to make plays for the team to try and get everything rolling again,” said the 5-foot-8 senior. “I think it helped.”

The third-seeded Bison (9-11) used a 6-3 run in the first four minutes of the second half to take their first lead since the 5:05 mark in the second quarter.

“In that second quarter we really struggled offensively,” said BCN coach Randy Hooey. “We didn’t shoot very well and we didn’t attack the hoop very well. We were complacent on offense … We adjusted some things on defense (in the second half). … I was proud of the girls the way they came out in the third quarter and executed.”

Sydney Reimers hit the go-ahead layup in the paint and the Bison never trailed the rest of the way.

SaraLi Peterson led the Bison with 19 points — 11 coming in the second half — and three scorers finished with seven.

Central Prairie, however, despite trailing by as many as seven points in the second half, didn’t go away.

Jordan Spitzer scored 10 points in the final eight minutes, including a fall-away jumper with five minutes to play to pull the No. 6-seeded Firebirds (3-16) to within one point. The junior guard finished with a game-high 26 points, but every other scorer was held to six points or less.

“She had a good game,” Hooey said of Central Prairie’s leading scorer. “We knew that if she did score, we needed to hold the rest of the team down, and that’s what we did. Their next scorer only had six points.”

Central Prairie struggled mightily from the field in the second half, shooting just 16.7 percent, including a 0-for-7 half from beyond the arc.

“At the half, Coach (Hooey) gave us a good pep-talk,” said Hanson, who finished with seven points and four rebounds. “He told us to keep plugging along and to have good intensity.”

The Bison shot 36 percent from the field in the final 16 minutes and ended the game with a 43-35 rebounding edge. But now all the focus shifts to tonight when BCN meets up with No. 2 seed Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal at 7:30 p.m. at the Jamestown Civic Center.

The Firebirds will be playing to keep their season alive at 4:30 p.m. against Edgeley-Kulm.

“We want some revenge against (P-B-K),” Hanson said. “We’re just hoping to come out and play hard with a lot intensity. That’s one of our big keys — coming out and playing with good intensity.”

P-B-K defeated the Bison in their one meeting 50-35 back on Dec. 22 in Kensal.

“I was really proud of the girls tonight,” said Hooey. “They really came out and battled in that second half.”

Barnes County North 48, Central Prairie 41

CP 10 24 30 41

BCN 16 22 34 48

Central Prairie —Courtney Heupel 4, Madi Moldenhauer 6, Jordan Spitzer 26, Noelle Moser 5. Totals: 16 FG, 8-15 FT, Three-pointers: 1 (Spitzer), 35 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 4 Steals, 1 Block, 10 Turnovers, 17 Fouls.

Barnes County North — Magie Baddow 2, SaraLi Peterson 19, Sydney Reimers 7, Calby Hanson 7, Lauren McMillan 6, Emily Albrecht 7. Totals: 16 FG, 14-22 FT, Three-pointers: 2 (Peterson, Albrecht), 43 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 6 Steals, 3 Blocks, 17 Fouls, 14 Turnovers.

Records: Central Prairie 3-16; Barnes County North 9-11.

Tags: bison, sports, basketball