Kari Gibb/MDN Bottineau Star Jaelyn Grant (30) puts pressure defense on Nedrose Cardinal Maecey McKibbin (14) in quarterfinal action for the Region 3 Girls Basketball Tournament on Monday, February 24, at the MSU Dome.

The Region 3 Girls Basketball Tournament tipped off on Monday, February 24, at the Minot State University (MSU) Dome with quarterfinal games. In the bottom quarterfinal brackets, the two games below had the winners advance and will be in the semifinal games today.

No. 2 TMCHS 60, No. 7 New Town 35

The second seeds from Turtle Mountain Community High School (TMCHS) survived a pesky Lady Eagle team from New Town in the quarterfinal round of games. Despite the game effort by New Town, the size and inside game by the Lady Braves was enough to keep a gap for the win to advance to the semifinal round today.

TMCHS spent the first quarter of play establishing a rebounding and inside shooting game and held a 20-5 lead to start the second quarter. The the Lady Eagles began to find the basket even as the Braves added some 3-point shooting to the mix on the way to a 32-20 lead at the half.

Both teams worked on pressure defense in the transition game. The Braves kept adding to the lead for the 48-28 margin going into the final quarter of play.

TMCHS was led by Aubree Jeanotte with 19 points while Akealyes Azure added 14 points in the win. Emberlyn Poitra had 11 points and ten rebounds while Irelei Zerr added nine rebounds in the game.

New Town was led by Doramarie Salter with 11 points. Ariana Gray added nine points and Jaeden Grady posted seven points for the Lady Eagles.

The Braves will face Bottineau in the second semifinal game today at the MSU Dome.

No. 3 Bottineau 49,

No. 6 Nedrose 46

The six seeds from Nedrose had an upset on the mind against the three seed from Bottineau in the final quarterfinal matchup on day one of the Region 3 girls basketball tournament at the MSU Dome on Monday, February 24.

The Lady Cardinals could care less about seeding. Put Nedrose on the court with anyone and they battle to the bone. That fighting mentality was the core of the 13-7 Lady Cardinal lead at the end of the first quarter of play.

The Bottineau Stars began to work back into contention only to have Nedrose rip the momentum back into their favor and hold a 28-17 lead at the half.

The Stars began the second half by chipping away at the Nedrose lead. Two points here, free throws there and next thing you know, the 11 point gap is down to 7-points, then 6-points, then 3-points.

That’s when Nedrose forced the momentum back into their favor and jumped back to a 10-point lead. The two teams started the final quarter of play with Nedrose in front 41-30.

Once again, Bottineau began to work the gap with team effort. Rebounding began to work for the Stars to give Bottineau second and third chances on the offensive end of the court. The 11 point gap was trimmed to six points with 4:22 to play.

The kryptonite for the Lady Cardinals in the fourth quarter became foul trouble. The Stars began working the charity stripe with nearly four minutes to play in the game. The six point lead was cut to three with 2:57 to go in the game.

Then Bottineau stole the ball and hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 46-46 with 2:03 to play. Momentum shifted to the Stars as they took a 48-46 with less than a minute to play. The Cardinals were called for a moving screen with 35-seconds to play and the fouling started to force the ball out of the Stars possession.

The Stars won 49-46 in the final second of the game.

The Stars were led by Kyra Beckman with 15 points and ten rebounds while Karsyn Allard added 13 points and four boards. Erin Guariglia also had nine points for the Stars.

The Lady Cardinals were led by Lilly Nelson and Maecey McKibbin with 14 points each. Nelson had 12 rebounds in the effort as well. Hannah Buechler tallied eight points for Nedrose as well.

Bottineau will face Turtle Mountain Community High School in the second semifinal today at the MSU Dome.