Bison recruit Simon shows her stuff in West Fargo’s Class A girls quarterfinal win

FARGO — North Dakota State ladies’s basketball coach Jory Collins watched the North Dakota Class A women state match quarterfinals from the second row of the Sanford Well being Athletic Advanced. He needed to like what he noticed in Thursday’s closing sport.

Bison recruit and Miss Basketball finalist Miriley Simon scored 26 factors, lacking just one shot from the sphere, to guide West Fargo over Bismarck because the senior-laden Packers acquired a coveted state match victory.

“There is a motive why Jory needs her right here. She’s actually good,” West Fargo coach Mike Benson stated.

The East Area’s second seed (18-4) will play Grand Forks Crimson River in Friday’s semifinals.The Roughriders had been an upset winner over defending state champion and West high seed Minot on Thursday. Bismarck (19-6) will play the Magicians in a comfort semi.

Simon, a 6-foot-1 publish, was 12 of 13 from the ground, together with 7 of seven within the first half. Simon’s fast-break bucket with 2:15 left gave the Packers a 57-55 lead and he or she made two free throws with 22.8 seconds remaining to assist ice the sport.

“I simply knew we needed to are available locked in. We have not been right here earlier than and we now have six seniors, so we’re simply actually proud to be right here,” Simon stated. “We’re the one staff that does not have state expertise so I knew I needed to come locked in. My staff trusted me and I simply did what I needed to do.”

Chloe Pfau got here up massive for the Packers, too. She scored 5 straight factors in lower than a minute late within the sport. Pfau’s 3-pointer with 1:43 remaining gave the Packers a 60-55 lead and he or she adopted that with a soar shot with a minute left to make it 62-55.

“Benson instructed her to make clutch pictures as a result of that is what she does,” Simon stated. “She all the time makes clutch pictures for us. She got here again from an ACL harm and he or she means a lot to our staff and a lot to me. I am so pleased with her.”

Pfau completed with 14 factors. Brylie Peterson had 16 for the Packers.

West Fargo led 40-37 when Bismarck went on a run of 3-pointers. Katie Greff hit two whereas Paige Breuer and Ali Gulleson made one every to vault the Demons to a 49-46 lead. Breuer completed with 17 factors to guide Bismarck, whereas Gulleson and Peyton Neumiller every scored 11.

West Fargo led 33-26 at halftime, led by Simon’s 14 factors.

Bismarck led 17-11 after Gulleson’s basket with 10:30 remaining within the first half, however the Packers went on a 16-2 run over the following six minutes to take a 27-19 lead. Peterson had 5 factors throughout the run, whereas Simon added 4.

The Packers took their largest lead of the primary half, 31-21, on a Simon basket with 1:11 left.

Breuer had 10 factors at halftime for the Demons.

Simon completed the sport with seven rebounds, two blocked pictures and two steals in 36 minutes.

“The thrilling factor for Jory is that she’s a really polished highschool participant, however there’s numerous nice particulars in her publish work the place she will be able to turn out to be higher. She will be able to turn out to be a greater defender,” Benson stated. “So she’s acquired a extremely excessive ceiling on the faculty stage. She’s in all probability one of the best participant I’ve coached.”

Half: WF 33, B 26

West Fargo: Simon 25, Peterson 16, Pfau 14, Van Winkle 4, McIntosh 3, Jackson 2.

Bismarck: Breuer 17, Neumiller 11, Gulleson 11, Berg 8, Greff 6, Rood 2, Fischer 2, Johnson-Colbert 2.

Mike McFeely is a columnist for The Discussion board of Fargo-Moorhead. He started working for The Discussion board within the Eighties whereas he was a scholar learning journalism at Minnesota State College Moorhead. He is been with The Discussion board full time since 1990, minus a six-year hiatus when he hosted an area radio talk-show.