Kari Gibb/MDN Minot High junior Leelee Bell (30) looks for a basket or a foul in an effort to tie the game in the final 15-seconds of play as Mandan defenders double team the Majette on Tuesday, January 21, at Minot High.

The Minot High girls basketball hosted the second ranked Mandan girls in a battle between the top two teams in the state rankings and the top two teams in the Western Dakota Association (WDA) standings as well. The Lady Braves were able to scratch and claw their way to the 53-51 win.

Minot High drops to 6-1 in WDA play and 10-1 overall with their first loss of the season while Mandan improves to 7-1 in WDA games and 10-1 overall as well.

The Majettes started the game well with an 11-4 lead at the 11:59 mark of the first half of play. Minot High extended the lead to 18-10 with 9:20 left in the first half. It was at that point that the Lady Braves began to chip at the margin.

With 5:27 to go in the first half, the lead for the home team was down to 20-17 and with just seconds to play in the first half, Mandan took a 31-29 lead into halftime.

The two point lead was the difference in the game as both teams scored 22 points in the second half of play.

Minot High tied the game 44-44 with 8:52 left in the second only to trail Mandan 49-44 two minutes later. The Majettes again tied the game at 49-49 with 3:03 left to play only to see the Lady Braves take the 53-51 lead with 15.7 second left in the game.

Minot High’s Leelee Bell got the ball into the lane and went up for the shot to tie the game or attempt to draw the foul and shoot free throws for the tie. Bells was double teamed and the game was over.

Bell led scoring for the Majettes with 16 points on 5-for-10 on 2-pointers and 1-for-6 from beyond the arc. She was also 3-for-4 from the charity stripe and had nine rebounds in the effort. Eve Knuston had 13 points for Minot High with 2-for-3 shooting 2-pointers and 3-for-5 in 3-pointers.

Ariana Rood was 2-for-2 from beyond the arc for six points in the game while Camdyn Carty had five points and shot 1-for-1 in both two and three point shots.

The Lady Braves were led by Sapphire Lablanc with 22 points while Ziah GreyBull added 15 points in the win.

Mandan shot 29 2-pointers, making 11 of those and 25 3-pointers, making nine of those. Minot High shot 23 of the 2-point attempts and had 21 attempts from beyond the arc. The 37 rebounds by Mandan gave the Lady Braves more attempts than Minot High had.

The Majettes will travel to Bismarck to take on Legacy on Friday, January 24, for their next WDA game. The Sabers are third in WDA standings with St. Mary’s at 6-2 in WDA play and 9-2 overall.