Southwest North Dakota basketball sees heavy weekend of activity

SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA — Across all classes and courts in North Dakota, basketball is heavily underway, with area teams getting in their reps and regaining their skills on the court. Among area teams, Dickinson High, Trinity, Killdeer, South Heart and so-many others were in action, with more games coming on Saturday.

KHS fell to 0-2 on the early 2024-25 season after a strange start for both teams and a resounding end for the road-team. Des Lacs-Burlington and Killdeer closed out the first quarter knotted at 3-3 and then the Lakers went to work. DL-B scored 15 in the second frame to Killdeer’s 9, then proceeded to hold the hosts to single-digits in all the game’s quarters.

While Abby Hardersen scored on a 3-pointer in the first half and scored a team-high 9, Logen Ystaas went off for a game-high 22 — including a trio of tres — and the Lakers ran away with 29 points in the second half for the win.

Mickekellyn Walker scored 7, along with teammate Morgan Smith for KHS, but only Des Lacs-Burlington’s Kaylee Werner entered double-digits for eight team, other than Ystaas, with 16.

Dickinson High saw a banner start to their hoops season with the road win over Grand Forks Central, as the Midgets more-than tripled the Knights, 28-7, in the first quarter and never looked back. Taking a 51-27 lead into the half, Nolan Weidner scored 13 of his game-high 24 points — including 6 tres down the stretch — and Boston Cranston poured in a trio of 3-pointers in the first half on his own.

Nate Stevenson came on in the second half to notch 8 of his double-digit 15 points — along with 7 rebounds — and the Midgets held off the Knights’ siege in the meantime. Cameron Wolf scored 8 points and rose to the challenge with 5 rebounds and a block, while Weidner rattled the boards for 7 and Cranston dished a team-high 4 assists and Dylan Glasser came close to double-figures with 9.

Trinity High got off to another good start with a huge win over Westhope-Newburg in Minot, as junior guard Annabel Scheeler rolled to 31 points on the night to lead all scorers. The first quarter ended close at 9-6 in favor of the Titans, but it didn’t take long as THS poured in 17 points for a 26-17 lead at the half and rolled to another 24 to the third to open up the game and put it away.

Nevaeh Tormaschy scored 7 of her 11 in the first half and senior guard Elly McAvoy scored 7, while Macy Bryans had a team-high had a team-high 16 for the Sioux to keep them within range.

In what was probably the game-of-the-weekend, Grant Co./Mott-Regent evened Hettinger-Scranton’s first-quarter scoring at 18-18 and went into the half with a 32-26 lead. The Nighthawks kept things close in the third quarter, outscoring the hosts, 16-14, before the Jags closed out the contest in the final frame to outlast HSHS.

Hettinger-Scranton’s Laela Jensen was unstoppable from beyond the arc, scoring 6 tres of her game-high 32 points, while her counterpart on the other end of the court — Samantha Greff — registered 28 total as the two waged a back-and-forth battle-of-wills and were the only two players in double-digits in the game.

Jada Ottmar and Summer Meyer came close for the Jaguars, scoring 9-apiece, while Kinley Stadheim scored 7 for the ’Hawks. But Grant Co./Mott-Regent came out on top in the early Division B/Region 4/District 7 showdown.

South Heart jumped out to a 19-12 lead after the first quarter and went into the half up 25-15, then broke loose for an 18-point final frame en route to the Friday-night win. Sophomore standout Brogan Boltz notched a 3-pointer and 7 of her 9 points on the night in the first half for the Eagles, and Abigail Conery also drained one from range as part of her 11-point output on the night.

The Eagles’ defense held the ’Cats to single-digits in two quarters, and junior Holly Stuber poured in a game-high 13 points with Arica Hodell adding a double-digit 11 to the total for South Heart.

In a runaway game, Richardton-Taylor rolled Wilton-Wing on a 25-point output in the first half, as seven players entered the scorebook in a balanced attack for the Raiders. Ashlynn Christensen — who entered the 1,000-points club — notched only 4 of her game-high 20 points in the first half but came on to pour in a pair of tres and 16 second-half points to pace the hosts.

In the meantime, RTHS was solid from the stripe, converting 9-of-19 free-throws to hold off the visitors while Mariska Krank and Jenna Schutt were in double-digits with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Saturday’s games include DHS vs. Fargo South for the boys and girls, Trinity’s ladies against Bottineau, Richardton-Taylor at Garrison and Belfield hosting New Salem-Almont. Please see the Dickinson Press Area Scoreboard for updates and results.

For more information about girls prep basketball in North Dakota, please visit

https://ndhsaanow.com/tournaments/basketball-girls

and for boys’ results, please also subscribe to The Dickinson Press and/or visit

https://ndhsaanow.com/tournaments/basketball-boys

.

Gaylon is a sportswriter from Jensen Beach, Fla., but has lived all over the world. Growing up with an athletic background gave him a love of sports that led to a journalism career in such places as Enid, Okla., Alamogordo, N.M., Pascagoula, Miss. and Viera, Fla. since 1998. His main passion is small-town community sports, particularly baseball and soccer.