JAMESTOWN – The No. 3-seeded Carrington Cardinals were the final team to book their spot in the Region 3 Girls Basketball tournament semifinals thanks to a 62-45 win over the No. 3-seeded Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter Imperials on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Jamestown Civic Center.
“It’s tough for the seniors,” Imperials head coach Andy Braaten said. “That’s the big one, losing four guards, three starters and a main player off your bench is going to be tough next year to fill in. But we wanted to take that next step, I don’t think we played with enough energy today to get it done. Especially against a good team.”
The Cardinals sprinted out of the gates to an early lead and went into the second quarter up 15-7. The Cardinals stretched the lead out to 21-8 before the Imperials ended the run on an Allison Zenker three to make it 21-11 with 5:31 to go in the second quarter. The Cardinals were able to stretch the lead out to 31-16 heading into the half.
The third quarter was more competitive as the Cardinals only outscored the Imperials 16-15. However, the Cardinals were able to stretch the lead out to 46-28 on a Kacie Rexin jumper with 35 seconds to go in the quarter.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Cardinals’ Haley Wolsky banked home a floater to give her team their biggest lead of the day at 60-35 with four minutes to go. That was part of a 13-point performance for Wolsky who was one of three Cardinals to finish in double digits alongside Rexin with 15 and Madison Johnson with 17.
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“We had again good balance, Kacie came in and hit some nice shots, Maddie (Johnson) controlled our tempo a bit, Haley had some good runners, Emma Hone hit a couple buckets,” Cardinals head coach Andy Braaten said. “So, we really had nice balance, it was one of our most balanced games. So, we need that continuing forward.”
The Cardinals return to the floor at 1:30 p.m. when they face Edgeley/Kulm-Montpelier. This season, the Rebels and Cardinals have played twice before with the Cardinals winning both of those games.
“Tomorrow is 0-0, so we can’t carry any of those points over,” Braaten said. “So, we know we have to work hard and they’ll work hard and both teams are going to really scrap at it.”
CHS 62, N/G-S 45
CHS: 15 16 16 15–62
N/G-S: 7 9 15 14–45
Points leaders:
CHS: Madison Johnson 17, Kacie Rexin 15, Haley Wolsky 13
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N/G-S: Teagan Erbele 15, Tayton McDowell 11, Tanecia Kleppe 8
Assists leaders:
CHS: Emma Hone 3, Isabel Wendel 2, Rexin 1, Johnson 1, Olivia Threadgold 1, Kaydence VanRay 1
N/G-S: Sophie Ketterling 5, Kleppe 1, McDowell 1
Leading rebounders:
CHS: Wendel 12, Hone 11, Johnson 8
N/G-S: Erbele 9, Ketterling 5, McDowell 4
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