Oakes, ND (NewsDakota.com) – The Oakes Tornadoes Girls Basketball team clinched the #3 seed for the upcoming District 1 tournament in Wahpeton after beating the Richland Colts in a 60-58 nail biter.
The game started with Richland getting a quick lead and holding that lead for the whole quarter. Oakes started to struggle shooting from the field as they went 3/8 on field goals. Richland didn’t fair much better but they were able to get a couple threes in the quarter and Sydney Loff got 7 to give the Colts a 17-13 lead at the break. The second quarter saw the Tornadoes battle back to take a 29-28 lead at the half as they held the Colts to only 3 field goals.
Richland had their best quarter in the 3rd as they went 6/8 from the field and 2/2 from the line in the quarter with Lillian Miranowski dropping 2 treys to take a 44-42 lead. The Tornadoes were starting to come back at the end of the 3rd with Lily Thorpe starting to hit important baskets as she would continue that performance in the 4th. The Tornadoes would have a 6 point lead late in the game. A lead that Miranowski would slowly eat away was she dropped a couple more treys to bring the game within 2 with 4 seconds left. The Tornadoes would lose possesion with 2 seconds left to give Richland one last shot however Kassidy Jackson intercepted a pass to the lane to end the game and give Oakes the 60-58 victory.
The all around leading scorer was Lillian Miranowski with 22 points going 7/14 from the field and 3/4 from the line. Lily Thorpe was Oakes’ leading scorer going 7/15 from the field and 5/9 from the line for 19 points.
The Bank North Player of the Game was Lily Thorpe.
The victory gives Oakes a final District 1 record of 5-2 which locks them into the #3 seed and they will play Tri-State in the Opening Round of the District 1 Tournament (See Updated District Standings Below). Next up for the Tornadoes is their last Class B opponent of the year on Thursday Feb 1st against LaMoure-LM which can be heard on KDDR The Tornado with pregame beginning at 6:45.
DISTRICT 1 Standings (x-clinched position) (as of January 30th)
- x-Maple River (6-0)
- x-Sargent County (5-1)
- x-Oakes (5-2)
- Wyndmere-Lidgerwood (3-3)
- Richland (3-3)
- x-Tri-State (2-4)
- Enderlin (0-5)
- Hankinson (0-6)