E/K-M beats Bowman County 53-36 in state semifinals

Mar. 1—JAMESTOWN — The No. 6-seed Edgeley/Kulm-Montpelier girls' basketball team booked their spot in the 2024 NDHSAA Division B State Tournament championship game with a 53-36 win over No. 2-seeded Bowman County on Friday, March 1, at the Jamestown Civic Center.

"I've been in the state tournament now, not a lot, but never been here before so it's a lot to take in," Rebels head coach Rory Entzi said about his thoughts in the final seconds of the game. "I also was like I guess it's gonna be another late night of trying to get a game plan together but I don't think unless you coach you really understand the amount of work that goes into this and the amount of work the kids put into this. So, it's surreal, I don't know, you don't know how many opportunities you're gonna get so you're just trying to make the most of them."

The Rebels (23-5) are in the state championship game for the first time since the schools became a co-op in 2013 and the first time that any of the three towns played for a championship since Marion/Montpelier made it in 1988.

"Honestly, it's undescribable," Rebels senior Mataeya Mathern said. "It's just an amazing feeling, you dream of being in the state title game and now we get to go out and give it one more all."

The teams went into the first media timeout in the opening quarter with the Rebels up 7-6. After the stoppage, the Rebels went on a run to take an 18-9 lead, drawing a Bulldogs (24-3) timeout with 1:26 to go in the opening quarter. The Bulldogs' timeout did little to slow the Rebels down though as they were able to stretch the lead out to 22-9 heading into the second quarter.

"We started moving the ball I thought really well," Entzi said. "It seemed like we struggled when the ball got stuck and we gotta keep it moving. We gotta keep moving and we have to use our screen and action and I think those things helped us a lot. I won't lie, the girls really bought in, they always do, but they bought into our defensive plan today and did a great job with it."

The Bulldogs completely flipped the script in the second quarter, forcing two turnovers on the Rebels' first two possessions and opening the quarter on an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to 24-20. The Rebels ended the run when Elli Lloyd was fouled and hit both free throws to push the lead to 26-20. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 26-23 as the game headed into halftime.

One of the biggest differences in the first half was the rebounding battle. The Bulldogs had eight offensive rebounds and won the rebounding battle 15-10.

The game was hanging in the balance in the third quarter as the Rebels lead was sitting at 30-23, but a Mataeya Mathern 3-pointer pushed the lead to 33-23, drawing a Bulldogs timeout. The Rebels continued to pour it on from there going on a run to take a 44-31 lead into the fourth quarter.

"We pulled together as a family," Mathern said. "That's what we preach, when times get tough we gotta come together and that's exactly what we did tonight and it showed."

The Bulldogs cut their deficit down to 46-34 but the Rebels put the game away when Elli Lloyd splashed a 3-pointer to push the lead out to 51-34 with 2:21 to go in the game.

The Bulldogs shot 34.6% from the field in the first half and 3-for-6 from the line, but the Rebels forced them to shoot 26.1% from the field and 1-for-4 from the stripe in the second half.

The Rebels shot 50% from the field in the first half and 6-for-10 from the stripe. The Rebels shot 40.7% from the field and 1-for-2 from the line in the second half.

After the game, Bulldogs head coach Jaci Mrnak said her message to her team was to take the moment in.

"They need to be proud of what they accomplished this season," Mrnak said. "The shots didn't fall our way. EKM was hot for basically three quarters of basketball and that's how the ball bounces sometimes and you just have to rally back. We get a chance to end our season on a win tomorrow in the third and fourth-place game. It's been 15 years since our school, girl's basketball team has made it to the semifinal games. So we're really proud of that accomplishment and hopefully get to end our season on a win."

The Rebels will play for the state title at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 2, against the winner of the game between May-Port-C-G and Sargent County. The Bulldogs will play either May-Port-C-G or Sargent County in the third-place game.

Points leaders:

E/K-M: Mataeya Mathern 19, Elli Lloyd 11, Betsy Huber 7, Grace Irey 7, Libby Mathern 4

BC: Sophia Headley 12, Jaci Fischer 12, Reagan Honeyman 4, Adyson Gerbig 4, Julie Sarsland 4

Assists leaders:

E/K-M: L. Mathern 5, Lloyd 3, Jaelyn Bertsch 2, M. Mathern 2, Huber 1, Abby Mathern 1, Lexie Dallman 1

BC: Honeyman 2, Landyn Gerbig 1, Headley 1, Fischer 1, Sarsland 1

Leading rebounders:

E/K-M: M. Mathern 12, L. Mathern 9, Huber 3

BC: Headley 11, Fischer 6, Honeyman 5

The full tournament bracket is below:

Quarterfinals 2/29:

#7 Maple River 43 vs. #2 Bowman County 69

#6 Edgeley/Kulm-Montpelier 43 vs. # 3 Central McLean 42

#8 Kenmare/Bowbells 43 vs. #1 May-Port-C-G 64

#5 Our Redeemer's 52 vs. #4 Sargent County 54

Semifinals 03/01:

#6 Edgeley/Kulm-Montpelier 53 vs. #2 Bowman County 36

#4 Sargent County vs. #1 May-Port-C-G, 2:45 p.m.

Consolation semifinals 03/01:

#7 Maple River vs. #3 Central McLean, 6:30 p.m.

#8 Kenmare/Bowbells vs. #5 Our Redemeer's, 8:15 p.m.