Cards, Imperials win

The sometimes cavernousness Jamestown Civic Center can create fits for great shooting teams, as was the case for the No. 3-ranked Napoleon Imperials during the opening round of the Stutsman County Girls Basketball Tournament on Thursday.

But Napoleon overcame a sluggish first period of basketball offensively to easily wrap up a 61-34 quarterfinal victory over the Edgeley-Kulm/Montpelier Rebels.

The Imperials’ trademark defensive pressure was there from the get-go, as the team forced the Rebels into 12 of its 35 turnovers of the game in the first period. But finding the center of the orange cylinder, especially from 3-point range, proved to be a challenge.

Napoleon went 1-of-7 from 3-point land in the opening 8 minutes and led just 12-7 after one. The Imperials were limited to less than 40 percent shooting in the game, and finished converting just 3-of-17 trey attempts.

“We didn’t come out with a lot of fire. We were pretty flat right away,” Napoleon coach Darcy Lehr said. “It could be the 3 p.m. start … the kids getting used the gym, things like that. We just weren’t really fired up to play, and we’ll have to be more fired up with or next opponent, that’s for sure.”

That next opponent will be the Carrington Cardinal’s junior varsity squad in today’s semifinals starting 6 p.m., weather permitting. The Cardinals got past Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal 48-40 in the second quarterfinal game of the day.

Turnovers by the Rebels and missed shots by the Imperials produced a 7-7 tie with less than a minute left to play in period No. 1. That’s when Napoleon senior guard Kendra Weigel finally found the stroke from long range for a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left before the second.

Napoleon wouldn’t look back from there. Weigel’s trey kicked off a 14-0 run by the Imperials, which kept the Rebels off the scoreboard until 4 minutes, 17 seconds remained in the second.

Edgeley-Kulm/Montpelier eventually found the bucket with an Ashley Boom jump shot, but by then the Imperials were in command 21-9. Those were the only 2 points the No. 8-seeded Rebels would muster in the second, as the Imperials cruised into the locker room with a 32-9 advantage at the half.

“Offensively we struggled with our outside shots. It’s tough to shoot in this place if you’re not used to it,” Lehr said. “Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to shoot a little bit better and come out with a little bit more of our style of play.”

But what has been the case for the Imperials the past three seasons was reflected in the stat sheet. Out of the Rebels’ 35 turnovers, 24 of those were credited as Napoleon steals. Edgeley-Kulm/Montpelier struggled with Napoleon’s defensive prowess all game, with Napoleon’s Mikayla Young and Mariah Jangula leading the winning team with 5 and 4 steals, respectively.

The Rebels’ 5-foot-11 freshman Olivia Anderson did all she could to keep E-K/M in the game in the third, going 6 of 6 from the free-throw line and scoring 10 of the Rebels’ 16 third-period points. But a pair of treys by Napoleon’s Shania Gross and Brianna Wolf in the frame kept the Imperials on cruise control, leading 51-25 to start the final 8 minutes.

Anderson went a perfect 9 of 9 from the charity stripe, as the Rebels took a good crack at wrapping up the tournament’s free-throw award by going 12 of 13 at the stripe as a team. Anderson paced the Rebels with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Edgeley-Kulm/Montpelier was limited to 11 of 43 shooting from the field for 26 percent.

Jangula led Napoleon with 15 points, while the Imperial all-stater Sheridon Dewald posted a quiet 9 points and 5 rebounds. Napoleon’s JV team had defeated E-K/M 64-54 back on Jan. 4 in Kulm.

The Imperials are going for three Stutsman titles in four years competing in the tournament this weekend. Napoleon had an attempt at the three-peat last year, but they were derailed 64-58 by the defending tourney champ Midkota in the title tilt.

“We’d definitely like to see a good start and a little bit more intensity,” Lehr said, concerning today’s matchup with the Cardinal JV. “I’d like to see us play our game.”

Carrington JV 48, P-B-K 40

Hitting big shots starts early when one is a member of the Carrington Cardinal girls basketball program.

An enormous 3-pointer from the right-side wing by Carrington sophomore Brooke Rosenau thwarted a Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal comeback in the fourth period, helping the Carrington JV sneak past the P-B-K Rebels by 8 points.

The Cards led 33-26 to start the final 8 minutes, but the Rebels were rolling and rifled off the first 6 points of the period to cut Carrington’s lead to just 1 point at 33-32 with 6:15 left. Jordan Thomas scored a pair of buckets and Jenna Van Ray got the other in P-B-K’s fast start to the period.

But in stepped Rosenau with the dagger, which let a good majority of air out of the Rebels’ balloon.

Carrington would hit a total of 3 treys down the stretch, with Audra Montgomery and Jacey Engelhorn connecting from long range to push the Carrington lead to 10 points, 46-36, as they’d coast from there. Engelhorn went 4 of 7 from 3-point land in the game and led all scoring with 19 points. The Rebels outrebounded the Cards 35-29, but shot just 34 percent in the game to Carrington’s 43 percent.

Amanda Beckley led P-B-K with 13 points and 8 rebounds. The Rebels move into the consolation bracket, where they’ll face Edgeley-Kulm/Montpelier today at 3 p.m.

Stutsman County Tournament

Jamestown Civic Center

Thursday’s quarterfinals

No. 1 Napoleon 61,

No. 8 Edgeley-Kulm/Montpelier 34

E-K/M 7 9 25 34

Napoleon 12 32 51 25

E-K/M – Olivia Anderson 17, Kelsey Feist 6, Mikaela Long 5, Alexis Jensen 2, Ashley Boom 2, Karena White 2. Totals: 11-43 FG, 12-13 FT, 37 rebounds (Long 9, Anderson 9), 17 fouls, 8 assists (Hallie Anderson 3), 35 turnovers, 8 blocks (O. Anderson 5), 9 steals (Kelly Susa 3). Three-pointers: (0-5).

Napoleon – Mariah Jangula 15, Sheridon Dewald 9, Kendra Weigel 8, Brenna Schmidt 8, Shania Gross 6, Jacey Dewald 6, Brianna Wolf 3, Mikayla Young 2, Kali Schwartzenberger 2, Katelyn Long 2. Totals: 23-59 FG, 12-20 FT, 36 rebounds (Jangula 5, S. Dewald 5), 11 fouls, 20 assists (K. Weigel 7, Jangula 5), 19 turnovers, 4 blocks (4 with 1), 24 steals (Young 5, Jangula 4). Three-pointers: (3-17) K. Weigel 1, Gross 1, Wolf 1.

Records: Napoleon 5-0; E-K/M 1-7.

No. 5 Carrington JV 48,

No. 4 Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal 40

Carr. JV 17 25 33 48

P-B-K 6 15 26 40

Carr. JV – Jacey Engelhorn 19, Kayla Hochhalter 8, Lynzee Hagemeistear 7, Brooke Rosenau 5, Audra Montgomery 5, Madison Wendel 4. Totals: 19-44 FG, 3-6 FT, 29 rebounds (Wendel 8), 7 fouls, 16 assists (Rosenau 5), 15 turnovers, 7 blocks (Wendel 5), 10 steals (Hagemeister 3). Three-pointers: (7-16) Engelhorn 4, Hagemeister 1, Rosenau 1, Montgomery 1.

P-B-K – Amanda Beckley 13, Shantel Albrecht 8, Morgan Thomas 7, Jordan Thomas 6, Callie Neys 4, Jenna Van Ray 2. Totals: 18-53 FG, 3-7 FT, 35 rebounds (Albrecht 8, Beckley 8), 5 fouls, 13 assists (3 with 3), 16 turnovers, 1 block (Albrecht 1), 11 steals (M. Thomas 3). Three-pointers: (1-4) M. Thomas 1.

Records: P-B-K 2-4.

Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at msavaloja@jamestownsun.com

Tags: class b, sports, basketball