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JAMESTOWN — The Carrington Cardinals lost the 2021 Stutsman County Tournament championship game to the Edgeley/Kulm-Montpelier Rebels, but the roles were reversed this year as the Cardinals captured the crown with a 71-57 win on Saturday, Dec. 10 at the Jamestown Civic Center.
In the win, the Cardinals (4-0) used 10 players and had six of those players pick up a foul including three players finishing with four fouls.
“We were able to spread the fouls around a little bit, so nobody fouled out,” Cardinals head coach Andy Braaten said. “But we were able to spread the fouls around, but hey, that’s depth. I’m really proud of our depth right now.”
One of the players that was in foul trouble for the Cardinals was Madison Johnson who finished with four fouls, but still managed to have 16 points on seven-for-eight shooting.
“I relied on my teammates to help me if they got past me,” Johnson said. “I tried to be aggressive without fouling, so I could stay in the game.”
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The scoreline is not properly indicative of how close the game was though as the Rebels’ Mataeya Mathern hit a jumper midway through the fourth quarter to cut her team’s deficit to 54-52 but the Cardinals’ Johnson immediately responded with a steal and a layup to push her team’s lead out to 56-52. From there, the Cardinals were able to put the game away.
The first half saw the teams trade baskets with the Cardinals up 25-20. The Rebels’ Kiara Jangula scored her only points of the first half on a jumper with a stop-and-pop jumper to cut the deficit to 21-20 with 35 seconds go in the first half. Later in the first half, Johnson hit a jumper to push the Cardinals’ lead out to 25-20.
“We started a little sluggish I thought,” Rebels head coach Rory Entzi said. “The opening tip and we gave up a layup, that just seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game. It seemed like we were always just fighting uphill a little bit. Which, you have to give credit to them, they’re very athletic, they just keep coming, they’re all about the same size, all about the same speed. We’ve been playing them for a lot of years back and forth and I’m sure they wanted to win as much as we did. So, there was probably some incentive both ways.”
The Cardinals return to the court at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 13, when they take on New Rockford-Sheyenne. The Rebels look to bounce back at 5 p.m on Friday, Dec. 16, when they take on Kidder County.
CHS 57, E/K-M 71
CHS: 13 12 22 24–71
E/K-M: 14 6 19 18–57
Points leaders:
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CHS: Madison Johnson 16, Olivia Threadgold 12, Kaydence VanRay 11
E/K-M: Mataeya Mathern 20, Grace Irey 14, Abby Mathern 9
Assists leaders:
CHS: Edyn Hoornaert 2, Johnson 1, Isabel Wendel 1, Emma Hone 1
E/K-M: A. Mathern 5, Kiara Jangula 3, Reagan Teske 2, Libby Mathern 2
Leading rebounders:
CHS: Hoornaert 10, Johnson 9, VanRay 6
E/K-M: M. Mathern 8, Grace Irey 7, A. Mathern 3
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All Tournament Team:
Christena Walker, Ellendale
Lilly Bohl, M/P-B
Allison Thomas, M/P-B (unanimous)
Isabel Wendel, Carrington
Edyn Hoornaert, Carrington
Madison Johnson, Carrington (unanimous)
Madison Cavanaugh, Warwick
Sophie Ketterling, N/G-S
Teagan Erbele, N/G-S (unanimous)
Kiera Jangula, E/K-M (unanimous)
Mataeya Mathern, E/K-M, (unanimous)
Coach of the Tournament:
Rory Entzi, E/K-M
Sportsmanship Award:
Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter
Free Throw Award:
N/G-S (67%)
