The 2025 Lake Region Invitational champion Benson County Wildcats. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
DEVILS LAKE — For the second year in a row, Benson County is the champion of the Lake Region Invitational.
“We’ve been in this game three times in my career,” senior Aubrey Kenner said. “I think we’re just experienced, and we knew we had to come in and we had to be confident. And we just had to give it our all. … We’re going to have tired legs. We just really had to dig deep on defense.”
The Wildcats (4-0) got it done with a 60-41 win over Four Winds/Minnewaukan (2-1) to cap the tournament Saturday at the Devils Lake Sports Center. They overcame 29 points from FW/M sophomore Suri Gourd.
“Four Winds is a great team. And I knew it was going to be a physical game,” Benson County head coach Bryan Kenner said. “Suri Gourd is one of the best players in the state. I knew we had to be really good defensively.”
Sophomore Lacie Fautsch scored 13 points to finish with 53 for the tournament. She was named tournament MVP.
“She’s been so good,” Coach Kenner said. “I’ve been telling people this has been coming. I saw it all summer. She puts the work in. She’s a great kid. She’s super smart. She’s made us so much harder to defend, because now you can’t just take our guards away. We’ve got a great presence inside. I’m just really, really happy for her.”
Fautsch and A. Kenner now each own an MVP plaque from this tournament, after Kenner won it last year.
“She is tremendous,” A. Kenner said. “I’m actually so proud of her. This year, we’ve tried to give her more looks, because we knew she was going to be big. And there’s hardly anyone out there that can really guard her.”
Kenner led Benson County with 22 points on Saturday. She, Fautsch, Addisyn Faul and Kaitlyn Maddock were all-tournament selections. Gourd made the team as well.
Faul scored 11 points Saturday to finish with 36 for the tournament. Maddock had 12 to total 32. Maddock also won the free throw contest held at halftimes throughout the three-day event.
Gourd got off to a quick start with nine points in the first quarter. She almost singlehandedly had FW/M up 11-10.
But Benson County spread the scoring well between its four main offensive players. Led by Kenner and Fautsch, but with contributions from Faul and Maddock as well, the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run that extended into the second quarter. They led by as many as 13 in the first half.
“Aubrey was getting to her mid-range game,” Kenner said. “Kaitlyn Maddock got to the rim. Lacie was drawing fouls inside. Addisyn Faul had a couple of huge buckets there. … It was just a fantastic team effort.”
Benson County limited Gourd to a trio of free throws in the second quarter.
“I think Ella Fossen did a really good job on her,” A. Kenner said. “I started out on her and then got into a little bit of foul trouble, but Ella did great.”
Gourd got going again in the second half. She scored 17 points, including her second triple of the game and 6-of-8 free throw shooting. She totaled 29 points in the game. Her 69 overall points were the most of anyone in the tournament.
“We switched Aubrey and Ella on her, and we started hedging that ball screen a little harder,” Coach Kenner said. “We made a couple adjustments there at the quarter break on how we were defending it, and the girls did a great job, exactly what I told them to do. And it made it pretty hard for her. I mean, [Gourd]’s still a great player. She’s going to get hers. We just couldn’t make it easy for her.”
FW/M only got 12 total points from its other players. Neither Cailee Hanson nor Gracie Jackson, who had contributed in the first two games, made any buckets on Saturday.
For the second game in a row, four of Benson County’s starters reached double figures. Ella Fossen also chipped in with a triple in the fourth quarter.
Fossen, Fautsch and Kenner each committed their fourth foul in the final eight minutes. But they managed to stay in until Coach Kenner pulled his starters with 50.1 seconds left.
“We want to play aggressive,” Kenner said. “Obviously I don’t want…risk of fouling out. But when you’re aggressive defensively, you’re going to pick some of those up.”
The all-tournament team backed up what was already apparent to any onlooker: Benson County has four big-time scorers. Fautsch and Faul, who are still sophomores, have only gotten more comfortable after winning a state championship last year.
Off to a perfect start through four games, they still have most of a season ahead of them.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Coach Kenner said. “We’ve got to stay sharp every day. We’ve got to play to our standard. Today, I think we did that.”
FW/M also has a certified star in Gourd. The focus going forward, as head coach Sean Gourd Sr. reiterated multiple times throughout the tournament, will be finding some scoring to build around her. The Indians still have a tough schedule ahead of them as they compete in Class A, Region 2.
Benson County’s next step on the road to repeating is Monday in Maddock against Harvey/Wells County. It’ll be the Wildcats’ fifth game in eight days.
FW/M hosts Dunseith on Friday in Minnewaukan. Its first game at Four Winds High School is scheduled for Dec. 15 against Grafton, which is also the region opener.
All-tournament team
MVP: Lacie Fautsch (Benson County)
Addisyn Faul (Benson County)
Aubrey Kenner (Benson County)
Kaitlyn Maddock (Benson County)
Tenley Triepke (Devils Lake JV)
Suri Gourd (Four Winds/Minnewaukan)
Kelsey Johnson (Griggs/Midkota)
Kadence Spickler (Griggs/Midkota)
Kenley Blasey (Nelson County)
Lauren Bell (Park River/Fordville-Lankin)
