JAMESTOWN, ND (NewsDakota.com) – The first day of the Region 3 Girls’ Basketball Tournament took place Monday night at the Jamestown Civic Center with four first round games. The tournament will continue with two semi-final games Tuesday, then the final day of action will be the region championship on Thursday. Every game can be heard on Thunder Country 98.3 fm and streaming live at newsdakota.com.
Linton-HMB Lions 60 – Edgeley-Kulm-Montpelier Rebels 31
It took the Lions a quarter to get going, but they turned on the jets in the second quarter and cruised to a big win in the first game of tournament action. The Rebels led at the end of the first quarter 14-13, but it did not take the Lions long to find their groove, as they opened up a double-digit lead on the way to a 36-20 halftime score.
The game never spent an extended stretch with a deficit of less than 20 for most of the second half, and the Lions continued to play their game on the way to the 29-point victory. The Lions were able to put full-court pressure on the Rebels, forcing 26 Rebel turnovers against just eight for the Lions.
Junior Teegan Scherr led the Lions with 16 points, including shooting 5-7 from the three-point line. Fellow junior Jaycee Richter had 11 points and six steals, and senior Erica Umber finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.
The Rebels were led in scoring by freshman Mataeya Mathern and sophomore Norah Entzi, who both scored eight. The Rebels struggled shooting on top of their turnover problems, finishing the game under 40% from the field.
The Lions move on to the first game of the region semi-finals, taking on the Oakes Tornadoes. That game will take place at 6 pm Tuesday night.
Oakes Tornadoes 69 – Napoleon-Gackle-Streeter Imperials 44
Much like the first game of the night, to Tornadoes got off to a slow start before finding their groove in the second quarter and cruising to a big win in the second half. The first half was a tale of two quarter, as the Imperials won the first quarter 21-12, and the Tornadoes turned it around in the second quarter, outscoring NGS 21-9 to take a 33-30 halftime lead.
The Tornadoes were able to get their full-court press humming and forced the Imperials into 23 turnovers in the game, which led to easy baskets for Oakes as they continued to grow their lead. The Tornadoes also shot 16-23 from the free throw line (compared to just 4-10 for the Imperials), led by senior Sadie Hansen who went 12-13 at the line.
Hansen led all scorers with 26 points, 15 rebounds, and eight assists. Hansen had just two free throws in the first quarter before exploding for 14 points in the second quarter while helping the Tornadoes gain the lead.
Sophomores Laikyn Roney and Emma Muggli chipped in 16 and 11 points, respectively, for the Tornadoes, and Roney added seven rebounds, three assists, and four steals. The Tornadoes only had 11 turnovers and shot nearly 50% (7-15) on three-point shots.
The Imperials were led by freshman Teagan Erbele, who had 11 points in the first half on her way to 17 for the game. No other Imperial had more than seven, although eight different players scored.
The Tornadoes move on the the first region semi-final game Tuesday night against the Linton-HMB Lions. That game is set to start at 6 pm.
Carrington Cardinals 62, Medina-Pingree-Buchanan Thunder 45
Carrington scored the first nine points of the game and held the Thunder without a field goal until there was 1:13 left in the first quarter and led at time 15-1. The Cardinals led 16-4 after the first eight minutes and never looked back.
The second quarter saw M-P-B get back into the game a bit. They out scored the Cardinals 15-14 in the quarter to make it 30-19 at the break. Junior Sydnie Grager nearly scored as much as the Thunder team did in the first half, 19-18. The junior also had four rebounds and two blocks in the first 16 minutes.
The Cardinals pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring the Thunder 21-12 as they cruised to a 17 point win.
While Grager cooled off in the second half, senior Hannah Hagel scored 13 points in the second half. She would finish with 18 points and a team high eight rebounds and three steals. Grager ended with 20 points and seven rebounds and three blocks. Senior Kenzie Edlund was also in double figures with 10 points and seven boards. And she chipped in a team high three assists.
Junior Ryleigh Martin scored a game high 21 points to lead M-P-B. She also had a game high 10 rebounds. Senior Brittney Reister had a game high five assists for the Thunder who end the season with an 11-9 record. Carrington improves to 17-5.
Kidder County 46, LaMoure-Litchville-Marion 33
The final game of the night was the lowest scoring game of the day and the closest. Neither team could shoot very well in the first half. Kidder County shot 27 percent and L-L-M shot 20 percent. But Kidder County was able to get points off seven Lobo turnovers to lead 20-12 at the break.
But like Carrington, a big third quarter helped them pull away. The Wolves outscored the Loboes 19-7 in the third quarter to take a 39-19 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Kidder County would get the first two points of the fourth quarter to take it biggest lead of the game 41-19. But LaMoure-Litchville-Marion would outscore the Wolves 14-5 the rest of the way for the final 13 point margin.
Senior Madelyn Schmidt led all scorers with 21 points. She would add seven rebounds and four steals. Sophomore Kennedy Harter scored 13 points and added a game high 15 rebounds, three assists and three steals.
The Loboes had more turnovers, 12 than field goals, 11. They were led by junior Molly Musland who had 12 points, nine in the fourth quarter. Freshman Tessa Rasmusson had eleven points for the Loboes who fall to 14-7 on the season.
Kidder County, ranked number nine in the last Class B poll that came out Sunday, improved to 17-3.
Kidder County will play Carrington in the second semifinal on Tuesday with the tipoff scheduled for 7:30. These two teams did not meet during the regular season.