North Country Girls Claim 3C Title

GWENDOLYNE HONRUD

THE COURIER

The North Country girls basketball team claimed the District 3C title, the first of what is surely hoped to be three post-season titles as they look to bring home the state hardware this year. The Mavericks rolled over Dodson 68-12 and handily defeated Scobey 59-22 for the title.

The Nashua Porcupines played four games and claimed third place with a 55-33 victory over Dodson. Nashua and North Country advance to the Eastern Divisional tournament in Sidney after a weekend off.

Game One:

Lustre Christian v. Dodson

The girls' tournament opened Wednesday in Wolf Point with a match up between the Lustre Christian Lions and the Dodson Coyotes. Dodson won the game 53-47.

Dodson took a 17-6 lead after one quarter and increased it to 28-8 at the half.

A strong second half by the Lions closed the gap but the Coyotes were still ahead 53-47 at the end of 32 minutes. Lustre Christian put up 13 and 26 points in the third and fourth quarters while holding Dodson to 9 and 16 in the same frames.

Aubri Holzrichter led all scorers with 25 points, 16 of which came in the fourth quarter surge when she went 7-for-8 at the free throw line. Grace Brown added 17 points. She went 5-for-6 on free throws in the final eight minutes, 9-for-12 on the game. Abby Olfert and Hannah Brown each scored two and Meredith Valentine hit a free throw for the Lions.

Game Two:

Nashua v. Frazer

Game two of the tournament pitted the Nashua Porcupines against the Frazer Bearcubs. Nashua emerged the victor by a 12-point margin, 41-29.

Nashua held an 8-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. Frazer cut into their lead to trail 16-14 at the half.

The Porcupines regained control of the game in the third outscoring the Bearcubs 17-10. In the fourth, Nashua edged Frazer 8-5 for the win.

Tia Dees led all scorers with 15 points for Nashua. Alexis Murdock added 8 and Kaitlyn Miller scored 6 points. Hadynn Adkins and Guinevere Abern added 4 each and Deja Morgan scored 3 points for the Porcupines.

Angel Nelligan led the Bearcubs with 9 points followed by Shakira Beston with 8. Baily Beston added 6, Liana Jackson 3 and Audrey Smoker 3.

Game Three:

North Country v. Dodson

After receiving a first-round bye, North Country faced Dodson Thursday evening. The eventual champions won 68-12.

The Mavericks wasted no time in establishing a 27-6 lead in the first quarter and outscored the Coyotes 18-2 in the second quarter.

North Country put up 13 points in the third while holding Dodson to 4. The Mavericks shut out the Coyotes in the final eight minutes and added another 10 points to their side of the scoreboard.

As a team the Mavericks had 22 assists and 15 offensive rebounds while holding their turnovers to seven.

Paige Wasson scored 16 points to lead all scorers and the Mavericks. She also pulled down six boards. Teagan Erickson added 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals. Jaycee Erickson scored 12 points and contributed seven assists, three steals and two rebounds. Josie Brown added 9 points for North Country.

Game Four:

Nashua v. Scobey

Nashua's win over Frazer put them in a Thursday night game against the Scobey Spartans, who had also received a first-round bye. The Unified Scobey-Opheim team won the game 39-24.

Scobey led 11-5 after one but both teams put up 9 points in the second, leaving Nashua trailing 20-14 at the half.

Scobey scored 7 in the third quarter, outpacing Nashua by a point, to carry a 27-20 lead into the final eight minutes. In the fourth, Scobey secured their win by scoring 12 points and holding Nashua to 4.

Dees led the Porcupines with 13 points. Miller added 3 while Murdock, Adkins, Abern and Morgan each scored 2 points.

Opheim's Carrie Taylor scored 4 points for the Spartans in their win.

Game Five:

Lustre Christian v. Nashua

In one of the loudest games of the tournament, Nashua defeated Lustre Christian 39-29 on the court while team mascots for both schools won the night with their sideline antics.

Nashua led 12-6 after one despite early foul trouble. They outscored the Lions 10-7 in the second quarter.

After three quarters the Porcupines held a 31-18 lead. Lustre Christian rallied in the fourth with 11 points while holding Nashua to 8 but were unable to overcome the deficit from the first three quarters.

Holzrichter led the Lions with 14 points, going 11-for-13 at the line. G. Brown added 9 points, hitting 5-of-8 at the stripe. H. Brown drained a shot from downtown, Jaden Gibson added 2 and Valentine hit a free throw for Lustre Christian.

Dees led the Porcupines with 12 points while Adkins added 11. Morgan scored 4 and Murdock and Abern added 2 points each.

Game Six: Dodson v. Frazer

Dodson defeated Frazer 51-38 in their Friday night game in which the Bearcubs team and coach brought all their passion.

The Coyotes led 13-8 after one quarter. Frazer was outscored 12-9 in the second giving Dodson a 25-17 edge to start the second half.

Frazer put up 13 in the third while holding Dodson to 11 for a 6-point gap after 24 minutes of action. The Coyotes fended off the Bearcubs with a rally of their own in the fourth, putting up 15 points to Frazer's 8 for the win.

Nelligan led the Frazer scorers with 18. Further stats were unavailable at press time.

Game Seven:

Nashua v. Dodson

In the consolation game, Nashua netted the first several buckets and never looked back, going on to win 55-33 over Dodson for a trip to the Divisional Tournament.

The Porcupines outscored the Coyotes in all four quarters, leading 19-5 after one. They put up 16 points in the second to carry a 35-18 lead into the half.

A slower third quarter saw Nashua put up 7 points while holding Dodson to 4 for a 20-point lead after three. The Coyotes scored 11 in the final eight minutes, but the Porcupines outdid them by a basket.

Statistics for this game were unavailable at press time.

Game Eight:

North Country v. Scobey

The Mavericks shut out the Spartans in the first quarter of the 3C championship before rolling on to win 59-22.

North Country scored 15 in the first quarter and added another 18 in the second for a 33-10 lead at the half.

Scobey scored 5 points in the third, but were outdone by North Country's 15. The final eight minutes also belonged to the Mavericks who added 12 to their side of the scoreboard while holding the Spartans to 7 points.

The Mavericks shot 49 percent from the floor and 93 percent from the free throw line. They limited their turnovers to six in the game.

J. Erickson put up 17 points for North Country while adding six assists, four rebounds and two steals. T. Erickson added 11 points, six rebounds and three assists. Wasson scored 10 points with eight rebounds and two steals followed by Zandora Longtree with 9 points and three rebounds. Kora LaBrie and Mattea McColly scored 5 each and Sammie Wisher contributed 2 points.

"The girls came out focused and ready to go this weekend at the District Tournament. They played great defense, shot the ball well, and had a ton of fun," head coach Amber Erickson said. "We have a lot to be proud of so far in our season being Conference and District Champions but we also still have a lot of hard work ahead of us to accomplish what we want to accomplish in our last two tournaments of the season!"

The Eastern C Divisional Tournament will be held in Sidney Wednesday through Saturday, Mar. 2-5.

North Country opens the tournament with a 6 p.m. game on Thursday, Mar. 3, against Froid/Lake. Nashua plays MonDak at 7:30 p.m. also on Thursday.

A full bracket and schedule should appear in next week's Courier.