Grand Forks Red River honors state championship team, then beats Bismarck High
Dec. 9—GRAND FORKS — The seniors from Grand Forks Red River's 2022-23 North Dakota Class A state championship team rode a lift up Saturday afternoon to change the gymnasium's sign to reflect 110 school state championships.
The lift only needed to hold three members as the Roughriders won the state title without a senior-heavy lineup.
After the ceremony, the current Riders used that same formula that sparked a memorable state title run: Pressure defense, timely shots from role players and the scoring of Jocelyn Schiller.
Schiller, the UND commit and state tournament MVP, scored a game-high 24 points, while Rylie McQuillan and Ella Speidel combined to add 25 points as the Riders comfortably held off Bismarck High 59-43 in Red River's home opener.
"I thought we did a really good job on defense stopping people and hitting our rotations," Speidel said. "On offense, we moved the ball pretty well and it opened up shots for a lot of other people to score."
Red River led 31-23 at halftime and Bismarck was able to trim the lead to as low as five at 36-31 when Katelyn Luther scored inside with 13 minutes, 10 seconds left in the second half.
Schiller, however, responded with a pair of free throws and a drive to the basket. When Speidel hit a 10-foot jump shot with 10:45 to play, Red River led 42-31.
The lead never went under eight points the rest of the way.
The Demons are now 2-2. They started the year with wins over West Fargo Sheyenne and West Fargo before losing to Fargo Davies.
Red River's defensive pressure was wearing on the Demons late. Bismarck hit just two field goals in the final 6 minutes — a Paige Breuer 3-pointer with 6 minutes left and a Cambrie Fischer short jumper with 30 seconds left in the game.
After Schiller's 24 points, McQuillan added 15 points and Speidel had 10. Hannah Litzinger finished with six points.
Bismarck was led by Jersey Berg, who scored 13 points. Berg, the daughter of former UND men's basketball player Hunter Berg, was an all-WDA selection last season.
The win over Bismarck was Red River's second game of the season. The Riders started the year losing to the state's No. 1 ranked team, Minot, the team favored to win last season's state title.
Minot is led by Leelee Bell, a 6-2 forward with scholarship offers from Oklahoma, Nebraska, TCU, Louisville, Mississippi State, Purdue, Wisconsin and more.
Bell's teammate Maggie Fricke has also drawn scholarship offers from UND, North Dakota State and Central Michigan.
"We knew we were playing a very good team with very good players," Red River coach Kent Ripplinger said.
Red River lost 68-56 in Minot after leading by nine at halftime.
"I think the girls know it's a long season," Ripplinger said of how the Riders handled following a state championship season with a loss in Game 1. "Even tonight, it was a good game but it's the second game of the year. We're always trying to get better. We looked at the Minot game. We said, hey, we have to get better at this, this and this. Let's see if we can make some progress. That's the way these guys are. Nothing seems to faze them."
