Benson County’s Aubrey Kenner (10)/Photos by Noah Clooten
DEVILS LAKE — High school basketball season in Devils Lake officially got underway Thursday afternoon.
Eight teams competed in the Lake Region Invitational Girls’ Basketball Tournament at the Devils Lake Sports Center. Four were local teams, with Devils Lake JV, Benson County, Nelson County and North Star. The first three of those teams all won their quarterfinal games on Thursday, while North Star took a loss to Nelson County.
All the action came ahead of a matchup between Park River/Fordville-Lankin and Griggs/Midkota, which rounded out the day. The tournament wraps up with semifinal and consolation games on Friday, and the final games for first, third, fifth and seventh place on Saturday.
Here’s a brief rundown of the first three games on Thursday.
Larimore (0-1) 15, No. 6 Benson County (2-0) 62
It was a thoroughly dominant victory for one of Class B’s highest-ranked teams.
The Wildcats actually trailed 3-0 initially, but then went on a 14-0 run and ran away the contest.
Larimore committed 15 turnovers in the first quarter. Benson County took advantage, going on a 33-2 run that bled into the second quarter.
Each team went over four minutes without a field goal to start the second quarter, but sophomore Kaitlyn Maddock had a pair of baskets to get the Wildcats back on the board. Junior Aubrey Kenner made two free throws and three baskets down the stretch. A layup right before the end of the half, which made it 40-9, gave Kenner 1,000 career points. The team briefly celebrated her accomplishment before going back to work.
Kenner, Maddock and freshman Lacie Fautsch all reached double figures in the first half.
Larimore went the first 6:27 of the third quarter without scoring, unable to deal with the Wildcats’ heavy pressure. Benson County wrapped up its quarterfinal victory at a 47-point margin. Kenner ended up leading the team with 15 points, while Fautsch and junior Ella Fossen each had 14.
North Star (0-2) 31, Nelson County (2-1) 39
The Chargers outpaced the Bearcats in a low-scoring contest.
Nelson County erupted with a 9-0 start. North Star didn’t score until 3:39 left in the first quarter.
The Chargers’ first six baskets came from six different players. Their first-half lead was as large as 17-5. But North Star actually outscored them in the second quarter, 10-8. Annabelle Staus and Anna Griedl each had a pair of baskets in the quarter. Mattea Wanzek also had four points in the first half.
Nelson County’s lead was 23-15 at the half. Brandi Lippert had the most points with seven.
The Chargers returned to more comfortable territory with an 8-0 run to start the third quarter. Kenley Blasey opened the half with a put-back, then made a steal and a layup shortly thereafter. She had four points in a nine-point quarter for Nelson County.
North Star struck back again to make it close down the stretch. Wanzek had nine points in the fourth quarter for the Bearcats, finding a variety of ways to get to the rim. Blasey had eight second-half points for Nelson County, but scoring was otherwise sparse for a Chargers team that saw its lead get as tight as eight points.
Nelson County still held on to win and advance to the semifinals. Blasey finished with a team-high 12 points. Wanzek had 13 for North Star.
Dunseith (0-2) 49, Devils Lake JV (1-0) 58
Freshman Dottie Goss’s 21 points led the Firebirds to a first-round victory.
It was an odd first quarter with five lead changes and only one actual field goal for Devils Lake. The Firebirds went 9-of-12 from the free throw line, and got their only other points on a bucket by Chassidy Rodacker. They trailed 12-11 at the first quarter break.
The second quarter featured five more back-and-forth lead changes before Devils Lake finally ran away with it. Goss had three consecutive baskets, including a three-pointer, to fuel an 11-0 run that put the Firebirds up 26-16.
Goss had 12 points in the second quarter and 14 in the first half. Dunseith finished the half on a 7-0 run, bringing the halftime score to 29-24.
The run extended to 10-0 with a triple to open the second half. But Devils Lake’s Jenae Martinson responded with her own three.
After Dunseith got it back to 35-29, freshman Emma Hofstad made back-to-back shots for Devils Lake. Eighth-grader Berginn Yoder made a steal and a layup, running the score up to 41-29.
Goss started the fourth quarter with back-to-back layups. The Dragons could never get the margin closer than nine points after that.
To support Goss’s 21 points, Martinson, Mia Elsperger and Rodacker each put up eight.
On Friday, Larimore will play North Star in the losers’ bracket at 3 p.m. Benson County and Nelson County will face each other in the semifinals at 6 p.m., while Devils Lake JV’s semifinal game comes against the winner of PR/F-L vs. G/M at approximately 7:30 p.m.
The tournament final is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 7 at 3:30 p.m. The losers of the semifinal games play each other beforehand, at around 2 p.m. There are also games for fifth and seventh place.
