Heading into the start of the Region 4 tournament, it was a foregone conclusion that a very talented team was going to be left on the outside looking in when the tournament dust had settled and the state tournament prepared to get under way.
That remains the case as No. 2-ranked Carrington and Harvey, the No. 7 team in the final state poll, both earned a spot in Thursday’s region championship game.
It will be the third meeting of the year between the two schools. Carrington won the first contest 48-40 Jan. 29 in Carrington, but Harvey upended the Cardinals 58-49 to claim the District 7 championship last week at Four Winds High School.
Rolla-Rock Lake will face Langdon in the third-place game, which will also be played on Thursday at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
Harvey 55,
Rolla-Rock Lake 42
Unlike one night earlier when Harvey came out of the gate in a hurry, it took the Hornets a lengthy stretch of time to get rolling in their semifinal round game against the Bulldogs.
Harvey used a 16-9 spurt in the second period to erase a 12-5 deficit after the first quarter and went on to defeat Rolla-Rock Lake 55-42 on Tuesday.
“We came out flat,” said Harvey coach Fred Meland, whose team will take a 21-2 record into Thursday’s title game. “We were getting good looks, but the shots just weren’t falling the way they did (Monday).”
Senior standout Amy Buxa repeated Meland’s assessment.
“I hate coming out flat,” said Buxa, who finished with a game-high 19 points for the Hornets. “It’s really frustrating”
That frustration was seen early as Buxa missed her first six shots of the game as Harvey struggled, especially in close, in the game’s opening minutes.
A free throw by Buxa and a field goal by Rachel Nyhus accounted for the first three points of the game for Harvey, which trailed 11-3 when Amber Volanti drained a 3-pointer from the left side with 3:01 left in the first period.
But Harvey scored 13 of the game’s next 19 points to take its first lead when Nyhus took a pass from Buxa in the post before turning and banking a shot off the glass for an 18-17 advantage with 3:19 left in the opening half.
The Hornets led 40-35 heading into the final period and did not allow R-RL to get any closer than four points the rest of the way.
Nyhus also finished in double digits with 11 points of her own.
Volanti, along with Jordan Robert, both finished with 10 points to lead the Bulldogs.
