Lacie Fautsch runs down the court. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
CANDO — Benson County, the defending state champion and unanimous No. 1 in Class B girls’ basketball, has four players averaging double figures.
Any one of them can go off on any night.
In Tuesday’s district opener against North Star, it was six-foot sophomore Lacie Fautsch. She scored 31 points, exiting with two and a half minutes to spare in the third quarter.
“I really liked the teamwork from everybody,” Fautsch said. “I mean, everyone was just passing the ball, always looking for the open girl. I swear all of my assists were from Aubrey [Kenner] and Kaitlyn [Maddock].”
The Wildcats (9-0, 1-0) took down North Star (3-6, 0-1) by a final of 74-29 at North Star High School. Kenner complemented Fautsch with 18 points. North Star, a mostly young squad, got a team-high 14 points from senior Claire Weber. Freshman Claire Jorde was limited due to foul trouble.
“North Star has some phenomenal young talent. And they’re going to be really good,” Benson County head coach Bryan Kenner said. “But our maturity really showed tonight. And we kind of wanted to execute and work on some things and use some of our strength and our age, to be honest.”
Each of Benson County’s starters scored at least three points in the first quarter. Kenner, Maddock and Ella Fossen each hit a triple.
North Star didn’t score until almost three minutes in. Benson County led 23-3 to open the game.
“We did a good job right away,” Coach Kenner said. “Our press was really good the first quarter.”
Kenner led Benson County’s early scoring with nine in the first quarter, but she missed some time after reaching two fouls.
“We talked about dealing with that and having to play through it,” Coach Kenner said. “[Fautsch] stepped up in the moment and was huge for us.”
Addisyn Faul scored the Wildcats’ first points of the second quarter. After that, Fautsch really took off, scoring 16 consecutive Benson County points. She constantly attacked the rim and made put-backs. She got to the foul line six times in the first half, including four times in the second quarter.
“It’s really fun,” Fautsch said. “Every play, I just look for the ball, look to score and then get back on defense.”
Fautsch totaled 23 points in the first half. It included 7-of-9 free throw shooting.
“It was great the way that they really took away the outside on that zone, and she got some really great looks inside,” Kenner said. “And kudos to her for working her butt off. A lot of it was on rebounds. A lot of it was just sealing and being in position. So, she did a really good job tonight. And, I mean, I expect it out of her. She’s that kind of player.”
North Star, after scoring five points in the first quarter, had 15 in the second. The Bearcats made it as close as 45-20.
“The second quarter, we did a couple silly things zone rotation-wise,” Kenner said. “But, I mean, we tried to do some different things tonight to work on a few things we need to work on.”
Fautsch added some defensive rebounds early in the second half. She and Kenner traded layups as Benson County went on a 25-2 run, extending its lead into the 30s and 40s.
“I always make it an effort to rebound really well, because I feel like that’s where I strive,” Fautsch said. “So I always make that a point in every game.”
In the fourth quarter, Benson County had a running clock and mostly used backups. Sophomore Hailey Baker scored seven off the bench, while Isabella Engstrom added a basket.
“Hailey’s been kind of a spark plug for us offensively. She looks for her buckets and stuff,” Kenner said. “Everybody, I hold them to a high standard on defense. I expected them to play well when they went in there. [The Bearcats] had some of their varsity kids still playing; I thought we did a pretty good job on them defensively. … Really happy with what those kids are doing. And hopefully the minutes they’re getting — never know when they’re going to have to play more meaningful minutes later in the season.”
Kenner certainly won’t complain about Fautsch’s big night, which fueled the big early lead.
But it’s the embarrassment of riches Benson County possesses that excites him the most.
“The balance we have is tremendous. We’ve got kids that are capable of scoring 30 a night,” Kenner said. “But what makes us such a good team is that we’re better when everybody’s giving us 10 to 25. … The fact that we can have four girls in double figures every night at Class B basketball is pretty crazy. It makes it really hard to defend. Most teams don’t have four really good defenders that can stop people like that.”
The Wildcats are set to host a Class A team in May-Port-C-G on Thursday. Their next district action is scheduled to be on the road at Nelson County on Jan. 12.
