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CITY (NewsDakota.com)–The second round of the Barnes County Girls Basketball tournament has been completed.
Griggs County Central 45, Litchville-Marion-Montpelier 32
A strong start by the Cougars allowed them to cruise in the second half, while the Rebels surged after halftime to find some momentum for the third day.
Griggs County Central led 31-5 at halftime, but LMM rallied to cut the 26-point lead in half, outscoring the Cougars 25-14 over the second half.
Megan Beattie led the Cougars with 12 points, with Presley Paintner adding 11. Brenna Rodin led the Rebels with 10 points. Sydney Headland added nine.
Enderlin 50, Finley-Sharon/Hope-Page 35
The future of the tournament began to show up in the second half of the second semifinal.
The Spartans rallied from a big deficit to make the game two possessions in the third quarter, and freshman post Lexi Archer stabilized the middle, and sophomore post Madison Koenig began initiating the offensive play.
Enter sophomore Eagle post Megan Johnson, who ripped down physical rebound after rebound and scored eight of her game-high 16 in the fourth quarter to secure the win. Krista Thielges added 13 for Enderlin, while Koenig led the Spartans with 11.
Valley City 55, Barnes County North 31
The Hi-Liner defense was too strong for the Bison in the first semifinal.
Valley City held Barnes County North to six first half field goals, then held them without one for the first 4:50 of the third quarter to build up a big lead.
The Bison made a run after trailing by 25 at 42-17, as Emily Albrecht nailed a right-corner three to cut the lead to 16 with five minutes left of the fourth quarter. That was as close as the Bison would get. Albrecht led the Bison with eight.
Mariah Olstad led the Hi-Liners with 17 points. Amanda Tangen added 11, and Allyson Suhr knocked in 10.
Maple Valley 48, Northern Cass 47
People left when Northern Cass took a 45-36 lead with around two minutes left in the game.
They shoudn’t have.
The Raiders scored 12 of the final 14 points upsetting the Jaguars and moving to the championship game with late heroics by two of their mainstay players.
Trailing 47-43 with 15.1 seconds left, Rylee Nudell rebounded a missed Brianna Olson free throw, drove the floor, and pulled up from the right elbow, sinking a jumper to cut the lead to two with 7.1 to go.
Maple Valley used a timeout to set up pressure, and the inbounds pass was deflected. It bounced loose in the middle of the floor as players seemed to freeze and watch.
Abbie Tinjum didn’t watch. She grabbed the ball and sent the Raider crowd into a frenzy with a three with 2.8 seconds left, giving the Raiders a one-point edge.
Jaguar Lexi Zieske got off a nearly half-court buzzer-beater, and it hit the heel of the rim, and the Raiders stayed perfect against Class B competition and moved to the title tilt with a thrilling come-from-behind win.
Nudell led the Raiders with 18 points, 10 in the fourth quarter. Cassie Pautz sank 11. Whitney Ward led the Jaguars with 15, and Olson scored 10.
Saturday features LMM facing FS-HP for seventh place at 12:00 p.m., followed by GCC and Enderlin for the consolation title. Barnes County North meets Northern Cass for third, and Valley City and Maple Valley meet for the title, scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
Valley City will try for their second title in as many years in the tournament. Maple Valley has not won the title since 2005, and they will try the amazing turnaround of playing for seventh a season ago and a title the next season.
The game will be a rematch of a contest played in Tower City a week-and-a-half ago, won by Valley City 63-57. In that game, Valley City led by eight in the second half, but Pautz hit a three at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. It will also be the second Hi-Liner-Raider finale in a Barnes County this year. The Raider boys defeated the Hi-Liners 48-43 for the boys title in December.
The title appearance adds to a Maple Valley record. The Raiders will play for the title for the 18th time, and they will try for their 10th overall title. They entered the tournament with records in both categories.