The Blue Jay girls basketball team is a lock for the upcoming West Region tournament.
Senior Genna Bruns buried 4-for-5 shots from 3-point land and posted 18 points on Saturday at Jamestown's Jerry Meyer Arena, lifting the Blue Jays to a 53-44 victory over the visiting Dickinson Midgets.
Jamestown secured the sixth seed for the regional-avoiding a play-in game-with the win.
"It's a big relief," Bruns said. "We had to come out and do a lot of the little things and just execute to get this game.
"We're just really happy to come out with the win today."
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The two teams combined for 28 turnovers in a largely sloppy opening 18 minutes. But Jamestown put together a 9-0 run to end the half and led 32-21 at the break.
Bruns nailed a trey and scored five during the streak.
"We just have to concentrate and be confident in our shots," Bruns said. "As soon as we did that we all were shooting way better than in the beginning."
Jamestown kept the heat on after the break, harassing Dickinson into 11 of its 27 turnovers. Courtney Peterson and Emily Reiten each posted three steals in the game, while Reiten dished out five assists.
"We had a lot of turnovers early and that kinda killed us and kept Dickinson in the game," Skunberg said. "I liked our defensive effort tonight. We were flying around and forcing some turnovers."
Dickinson senior Jade Lawler broke loose for 19 of the Midgets' 44 points. The Midgets (4-16) have dropped five in a row.
"Too many times we kinda bailed them out with fouling when we had good traps set and whatnot, and we didn't shoot very well tonight, especially from the free-throw line," Skunberg said. "Little things like that we've got to get cleaned up, but it was a good team win tonight."
Jamestown (10-9), winners of five of its last six, will finish the regular season on Tuesday hosting Mandan. The Braves are currently third in the conference, the seed Jamestown will face in the opening round of the West Region tourney slated for March 2-4 in Bismarck.
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"We'll play them in the last game of the season and we'll probably have to play them again," Skunberg said. "We got some challenges ahead of us, but we've just got to keep the train rolling."
Jamestown 53, Dickinson 44
Dickinson 21 23 -- 44
Jamestown 32 21 -- 53
Dickinson-Jayde Lawlar 19, Petyon Selle 7, Gabrielle Jung 6, Megan Erickson 4, McKenna Weiler 3, Lexi Jordheim 3, Sarah Dobitz 2. Totals: 15-39 FG, 12-21 FT, 2-4 3-pointers (Weiler 1, Jung 1), 36 Rebounds (Lawlar 9), 8 Steals (Jordheim 4), 6 Assists (3 with 2), 27 Turnovers, 20 Fouls.
Jamestown-Genna Bruns 18, Courtney Peterson 7, Emily Reiten 6, Megan Gaffaney 6, Chloe Dunn 4, Bailey Lamp 4, Katherine Horgan 3, Megan Larson 2, Nihill 2, Brandi Harrison 1. Totals: 19-49 FG, 9-18 FT, 6-18 3-pointers (Bruns 4, Reiten 1, Gaffaney 1), 29 Rebounds (Gaffaney 8), 13 Steals (Peterson 3, Reiten 3), 14 Assists (Reiten 5), 18 Turnovers, 20 Fouls.
Records: Jamestown 10-9, 9-8 WR; Dickinson 4-16, 2-15 WR.
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