The 2025 District 4 champion Benson County Wildcats.
NORTHWOOD — The Benson County Wildcats are the champions of District 4.
It was a jam-packed finale to the Region 2, District 4 Girls’ Basketball Tournament on Monday at Northwood High School. No. 6-seeded Nelson County and No. 5-seeded New Rockford-Sheyenne each took a close loss in region qualifier games, bringing their respective seasons to an end. Griggs/Midkota and Hatton/Northwood advanced to the Region 2 tournament.
In the final game of the evening, Benson County — seeded No. 1 and ranked No. 3 in Class B — locked down a 50-46 win over the defending state champion, May-Port-C-G. The Patriots were seeded No. 2 in the tournament and ranked No. 6 in Class B. Both teams will move on to the region tournament, but with the Wildcats as the higher seed.
“It was great redemption,” Benson County junior Aubrey Kenner said. “We took second place last year. This is my third time being in the district championship game, and I’ve never won it before. So it was really great to finally be victorious in this game.”
Benson County head coach Bryan Kenner took home District 4 Coach of the Year honors. A. Kenner, along with her teammates Kaitlyn Maddock and Lacie Fautsch, were named to the all-district team. NR-S’s Ava Peterson and Nelson County’s Brandi Lippert were among the other all-district honorees.
“I laugh about this; I tell people all the time they give Coach of the Year to people that have good players,” B. Kenner said. “It’s kind of a weird award, right? I’m really proud of my team. I don’t really care about this Coach of the Year stuff. I’m super happy the girls worked hard to get a district championship, and that’s really all that matters.”
Aubrey added: “I’m really proud of him. It’s hard to keep that dad-coach relationship, but I think we’ve done a really good job keeping it professional… I was happy to see him get the recognition he deserves.”
Region Qualifier Game 1: No. 6 Nelson County 35, No. 4 Griggs/Midkota 38
The Chargers led at halftime in a low-scoring affair. But the favored Titans turned it on in the second half and eliminated Nelson County in a game that came down to the final few seconds. Vanessa Vollmer led Griggs/Midkota with 14 points, while Kenley Blasey scored 11 for the Chargers.
It was a 9-9 tie after one quarter, with all nine Nelson County points coming from three-pointers. Bailey Flaagan had two of them, and Blasey had the other.
Nelson County didn’t have a deuce in the game until more than four minutes into the second quarter. But the Titans’ scoring hit a major drought. They didn’t score in the second quarter for more than four minutes, and they didn’t have any field goals in the second quarter until about a minute before halftime.
The Chargers outscored G/M 9-3 in the second quarter and led 18-12 at halftime.
But it was a different Titans team in the third quarter. They scored 18 points, including nine from Kelsey Johnson. Nelson County got four from Blasey and two from Lippert, but nothing else in the quarter.
Still, the Chargers weren’t without some final tricks up their sleeve. Two baskets by Cara Sateren and another nice move by Blasey got them within two, down 32-30. G/M responded with a deuce, but Nelson County then scored five straight. Lippert was fouled in three-point range and came up clutch by converting all three free throws. Nelson County had a 35-34 lead.
Johnson put the Titans back on top, and they led 36-35 with as little as 1.8 seconds left. Kennedy Reidman put the final touches on G/M’s win with two successful free throws. Nelson County couldn’t get a shot off in the minuscule time it had left.
The Chargers’ overall record on the season came in at 9-11.
Region Qualifier Game 2: No. 5 New Rockford-Sheyenne 41, No. 3 Hatton/Northwood 49
Like the Chargers before them, the Rockets nearly pulled off an upset and led at halftime. This was a Hatton/Northwood team that beat them by 17 earlier this season.
Peterson, a left-handed junior, shined for NR-S. She consistently made athletic moves and found ways to the rim, putting up 13 points in each half. That gave her 26 of the Rockets’ 41 points overall. She had 12 more points than any individual Thunder player.
NR-S outscored H/N 12-6 in the second quarter to take a 21-17 lead at the half. Nine of the Rockets’ points came from Peterson, while the remaining three came on Kaiya O’Connor’s second triple of the half.
Kennison Azure scored seven in the first quarter for H/N, but the Rockets held her to nothing in the second. Elizabeth Pinke scored all six of the Thunder’s second-quarter points and led her team with 10 points in the first half.
The Thunder outscored the Rockets 15-7 in the third quarter to take back the lead. Isabel Padilla and Natalie Naastad, neither of whom scored in the first half, each had eight off the bench in the second half. Pinke was H/N’s scoring leader with 14 overall, while Azure also reached double figures with two more baskets in the second half.
Peterson scored eight points in the final quarter for NR-S. She went 8-of-12 from the free throw line in addition to her nine field goals. The Rockets had their deficit as tight as 42-39, but H/N’s more balanced attack proved victorious in the end.
O’Connor made her third triple of the game in the fourth quarter, giving her nine points on the evening.
NR-S finished the season 7-13 overall.
District 4 Championship Game: No. 2 (No. 6 B) May-Port-C-G 46, No. 1 (No. 3 B) Benson County 50
The Wildcats beat the Patriots by three points less than two weeks ago. This time — with a loss to unranked TGU in between — they won by four points.
That TGU game was the only contest that Benson County, now 20-1 overall, has lost this year. It supplanted their status as No. 1 in Class B.
“I think it really woke us up,” A. Kenner said. “It humbled us a little bit. Being that No. 1 for that long is a lot of pressure. And I think it really woke us up. And we started to have more energy in practice… This is almost over, and we gotta go now. This is go time.”
Fautsch and Addisyn Faul tied for the team lead in points with 12 each on Monday. Kenner had 11, including a massive three-pointer that gave them some breathing room in the fourth quarter. Hudson Zerface led the Patriots with 17.
Seven first-quarter points by Faul fueled the Wildcats early on. She hit two threes, helping Benson County lead 12-8 at the end of the first quarter.
“Addy is a great player. She’s worked really hard,” B. Kenner said of Faul. “And I told her before, ‘Teams are really gonna key in on Fautsch and Kenner and Maddock; and when that happens, be ready for your moment.’ And she was tonight. She had a couple of huge shots early on. Really proud of her and how she’s developed.”
A pair of triples by Zerface kept the Patriots within two. Benson County sprung ahead 23-14 with a 7-0 run, seeming to get into a rhythm and come within the precipice of putting this game away. Fautsch had five second-quarter points, while Kenner and Ella Fossen each had four.
May-Port-C-G capped the first half with a three by Kiaza Carlson. The Wildcats led 29-20 at the half.
Benson County’s lead was as large as 13 in the third quarter, but back marched the Patriots once again. Zerface scored nine in the quarter to make it a three-point game going into the fourth quarter. Carpenter, who had 15 points for May-Port-C-G, scored to cut the Wildcats’ advantage to 44-42 with 1:54 to go.
“They shoot the ball so well,” B. Kenner said. “We tried to mix up our defenses tonight between man and zone, and they found a way to get looks at all. And they hit a couple huge shots where I thought we actually closed out fairly well, and they still found a way to hit it. So hats off to them. They’re a really good team. It was a dogfight, for sure.”
It was Kenner who allowed the sea of Benson County blue to breathe some ounce of relief. She knocked down a three from the corner to make it a two-possession game again at 47-42.
“I just stayed confident,” A. Kenner said. “They hadn’t really been falling early on in the game, but I knew that confidence was key, and it wasn’t gonna go in unless I thought it was going to.”
The Patriots didn’t go away just yet. Carpenter made a triple to cut the lead to 47-46, making Kenner’s three look all the more monumental.
The Wildcats did a crucial job dominating possessions for the final seconds of the game. The Patriots were forced to foul, and Maddock went 3-of-4 from the line for Benson County’s final three points.
“We just talked about the preparation and all the work we’ve done to get us here,” B. Kenner said. “And I think that kind of calmed them down a little bit. They knew that they were prepared.”
With the score at 50-46, May-Port-C-G only had 3.2 seconds left and had to concede the loss.
Now, the Wildcats will enter a field with the best teams from District 3 and fight for a spot in the state tournament.
“We need to sharpen up some things,” B. Kenner said. “Langdon [Area/Munich] is probably the favorite over there. We’ve seen them before. We’ve seen most of the teams in that district… We’ll go attack it next week.”
LA/M, which won the District 3 tournament simultaneously on Monday, has gone undefeated against district opponents all season.
“We’re hoping to meet Langdon at some point,” A. Kenner said. “We might even meet May-Port at one point. But it’s gonna be a tough road to get there. There’s a lot of good teams in both districts, and so, yeah, it should be great matchups.”
The Region 2 tournament will be held from Feb. 24-27 at Devils Lake High School.
