Benson County head coach Bryan Kenner and senior Aubrey Kenner look on during a game in the 2025 Lake Region Invitational in Devils Lake. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
The seeding for the Division B, District 4 girls’ basketball tournament has been finalized. All eight teams recently completed their regular-season district schedules. A few teams still have non-district games left to play before the postseason.
No. 1 seed and defending state champion Benson County will host the tournament in Maddock this year. The games are set to be held on Feb. 13, 14 and 16.
The district looks a little different than it did last season. Hatton/Northwood, May-Port-C-G, Griggs/Midkota and Larimore all moved to different districts (or, in May-Port-C-G’s case, divisions). Langdon Area/Munich, North Prairie, St. John and North Star were all added to District 4 this season.
For the second straight year, Benson County gets the No. 1 seed and will have a bye in the first round with Warwick dropping out.
The Wildcats won the district tournament last year in Northwood. They enter the week of the tournament ranked No. 4 in Division B. They got off to a 15-0 start, holding a No. 1 ranking for most of the season. Benson County recently finished its regular season with a 67-45 win over TGU. Aubrey Kenner, Lacie Fautsch, Kaitlyn Maddock and Addisyn Faul each average double-figure points for the juggernaut Wildcats.
Langdon Area/Munich, the defending region champion, is the No. 2 seed. The Cardinals’ only regular-season district loss came to Benson County, 69-47. They’ll match up against No. 7 seed New Rockford-Sheyenne, whom they beat 58-21 in January. LA/M was victorious over Benson County in last year’s region championship and finished fifth at state. The teams could meet again in this year’s district championship.
No. 6 seed North Star will contend with No. 3 seed North Prairie on Friday. The Bearcats played a close game against North Prairie during the regular season, falling 47-44.
No. 5 seed Nelson County draws No. 4 seed St. John. The Chargers just played the Woodchucks the other day, losing 67-52.
The tournament is double-elimination. The top four teams will advance to the Region 2 tournament held in Larimore on Feb. 23, 24 and 26. That means both teams in the championship game will automatically advance, along with two region qualifiers from the consolation bracket.
The talent gap isn’t very wide between Nos. 5-7; for example, No. 7 NR-S beat No. 5 Nelson County 47-31 during the regular season. No. 6 North Star also beat Nelson County during the Lake Region Invitational, but the Chargers got their revenge in the official district meeting. The question is whether any of those three teams can squeak into the top four and crack the region tournament.
The final regular-season district standings (as of Monday, Feb. 9):
- Benson County: 6-0 (17-2 overall)
- Langdon Area/Munich: 5-1 (13-6 overall)
- North Prairie: 3-3 (10-8 overall)
- St. John: 3-3 (8-10 overall)
- Nelson County: 2-4 (6-12 overall)
- North Star: 1-5 (7-10 overall)
- New Rockford-Sheyenne: 1-5 (3-14 overall)
- Warwick: 0-5 (0-13 overall, canceled rest of season)
