Region 7 Girls Basketball Tournament: Top seeds advance in dominant performances

Feb. 21—DICKINSON — The Knights of Columbus Activities Center at Trinity High School was alive on Monday with the Region 7 Girls Basketball Tournament. While all the favorites moved on to the third round, the games featured more than their fair share of intrigue, and almost an upset or two.

The first jump-ball of the day featured number-one seed Bowman County squaring off against Killdeer, and the Bulldogs (12-1, 7-1) didn't skip a beat from their near-perfect 2022-23 season thus far. The Bulldogs Jumped out to a 20-8 first-quarter lead on the strength of a pair of solid runs — 8-2 and 7-3 — and drained three 3-pointers during that stretch. Julie Claire Sarsland contributed two of those and Jaci Fisher notched the other, and threw in a completed 3-point-play to add to the lead.

But Killdeer wasn't going away quietly, as the Cowboys ripped off an 18-11 second-quarter. Mickeyllyn Walker, who ended up with a team-high 17 points, knocked down 8 in the quarter and had 11 at the half, while Marnie Schmidt notched another 8 to close the gap with the Bulldogs to 31-26 at the half through a 9-3 run just before the buzzer.

But it was pretty-much all Bowman County the rest of the way, with the Bulldogs pouring in another 20 points in the third and 19 more in the final 8 minutes, while limiting Killdeer (10-9, 6-7) to only 11 points in the final period.

"In Region basketball, everybody's going to play their best games right now, because nobody wants to lose," Bowman County head coach Jaci Mrnak said. "But our girls came out and executed in the second half, and I'm really proud of how we finally got the ball moving. We finally reversed the ball and got some cuts going did those little things that got our girls open."

Bowman County's senior forward Ellie Powell led all scorers with 28 points on 12-for-21 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from the line, while Julie Sarsland added 12 points on 2-for-3 shooting beyond the arc and another 13 came from Jaci Fischer.

"I know it's my last Region (7) tournament, so I've just got to give it everything I have for my team and my coaches and my town," Powell said. "I wouldn't have wanted my senior season any other way. I've reached 1,000 points and averaging about 20 points a game and 10 rebounds a game, and it's been a surreal season, honestly."

For Killdeer, Marnie Schmidt knocked down 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, and Josey Andersen added another 11.

Bowman County next faces Glen Ullin-Hebron — which narrowly beat Trinity Catholic High School's Titans, 55-50 — today, Feb. 21, at 5 p.m.

It is impossible to measure the strength and fortitude it takes to come back from a 20-point deficit, but The Trinity Titans attempted to do just that Monday in the Region 7 Girls Basketball Tournament. On their own home court in front of hundreds of Titans fans, Trinity Catholic overcame a 22-point deficit and nearly clawed its way back to a win, but came up short, 55-50.

The Bearcats (12-3, 6-2), shot 12-of-28 from the field in the first half, and were 3-of-5 from the line, while Trinity Catholic couldn't get on track and shot 4-of-24 — including 0-for-8 from beyond the arc — and notched only 14 points in the opening two quarters.

In the first16 minutes of gametime, the Bearcats jumped out to a 29-14 halftime lead, thanks to a 17-3 run in the second period, and a quick 6-2 start to the third coming out of the locker rooms.

"Glen Ullin-Hebron played a tremendous first half, I mean they came out and they executed well and this time of year in tournament basketball it's about doing the little things; I thought they came out and did that in the first half and really put us at a disadvantage," first-year Trinity Titans head coach Jared Sheeler said. "Our shots really didn't fall in the first half; we dug ourselves into a pretty big hole that we knew was going to be a challenge to dig ourselves out of."

But Trinity got out the shovels and went to work.

From there, it was mostly Dickinson Trinity, as the Titans went on a 15-3 run that closed the gap to only 44-32 at the end of the third quarter. The Titans shot 10-of-30 from the field and nailed 2-of-4 from the 3-point line, while shooting 14-of-19 from the charity stripe in the second half.

During that span, the Titans (11-11, 8-4) ripped off an 8-2 run to start the fourth, and eventually closed the gap to a narrow, 2-point lead for the Bearcats at 50-48 with 2:52 remaining in the game. The two teams traded punches throughout the final two minutes, with Trinity again closing the gap and almost tying the game, 52-50 with 1:28 left to play.

"Son of a gun, the way our girls fought in that second half, the way they dug deep, they way they played together and for each other? I couldn't be more proud of our effort," Sheeler added. "Because we were right in it at the end."

The Titans held a massive 49-29 advantage on the boards as well, with a 23-8 lead in offensive rebounding that led to a number of second-chance points, but Glen Ullin-Hebron were able to hold on to the win and advance to play Bowman County this afternoon.

"It takes so much emotion and energy to scratch back from upwards of a 20-point lead sometime in that first half, so when we pulled within 2 it's tough to get over that hump," Sheeler said. "We were just unable to take the lead at the end of the game ... and the ball didn't bounce our way."

Trinity's Annabel Scheeler led all scorers in the game with an impressive 18 points, including 6-of-8 from the free-throw line, while Ava Jahner added 14 to go along with a game-high 8 rebounds.

The Bearcats benefited from a team-high 13 points each from Kaley Schatz and Taylor Christensen.

The third game of the afternoon didn't hold nearly as much curiosity as the first two, with Beulah (10-5, 9-2) locking down on 10th-seeded Richardton-Taylor with a double-digit win. The Miners edged out to a 20-15 lead at the half on the strength of 8-for-15 shooting on 2-pointers, but only were 1-of-14 from the 3-point arc. The Raiders (5-10, 4-9), started off cold from behind the arc as well, going 0-for-9, and only shot 6-for-31 in field goals total over the first 16 minutes.

Beulah was able to outlast Richardton-Taylor from there, scoring 30 points in the second half and limiting the Raiders to single-digits in the final period.

BHS's Harys Beachchamp led all scorers with 17 points, while Shae Barron added 14 and Jenna Koppellsloen also got into double-digits with 10. Meanwhile Beauchamp and Barron had a team-high 14 rebounds each.

For the Raiders, Eastyn Gebhardt took top honors with a team-high 16 points and game-high 17 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass.

Beulah will now face Grant County/Mott-Regent today at 6:30 p.m. after their 51-36 win over Hazen on Monday.

They might have an unwieldy name and no mascot, but the Grant County/Mott Regent squad also has a spot in the semifinals of the Region 7 Girls Basketball Tournament after their resounding victory over the Bison on Monday. The team was playing in jerseys that said "Wildfire" on the front of them, but went into the tournament riding on the name of the co-op alone.

Regardless, GCMR (16-4, 9-3) rocked out to a 29-16 lead at the half, while limiting Hazen to single-digits in both of the opening quarters at 7 and 9 points, respectively, and kept the Bison on their back-hooves by forcing 29 turnovers in the game. GCMR took advantage of a 17-3 during that timeframe to get the jump on Hazen down the stretch.

GCMR's Samantha Greff had a game-high 14 points to close out the night, while Anna Schatz drained 12 points and added 9 rebounds. Zoey Heid was the third GCMR player in double-digits with 10 on 4-of-6 shooting from the field.

Myah Mosset poured in 8 of her 10 points in the first half, pacing the Bison (9-9, 7-5), while Makenna Brunmeir added another 10 to take team-high top honors. The two also combined for 14 rebounds in the game.

Moving forward, the Region 7 Girls Basketball Tournament will close out on Thursday, Feb. 23, with the third-place game tipping off at 5 p.m. and the championship coming on the heels of that game at 6:30 or so.