Kenmare-Bowbells senior Mashae Miller (11) pushes the ball upcourt while Bowman County senior Landyn Gerbig (1) defends her in a Division B girls basketball state play-in game on Saturday, March 1, at the Minot Auditorium. Kari Gibb/MDN

The seeding and qualifying games are complete and the 2025 NDHSAA Division B Girls Basketball State Tournament is scheduled for March 6-8, 2025 at the Jamestown Civic Center.

R3-2 Kenmare-Bowbells 53, R4-3 Bowman County 40

The Kenmare-Bowbells girls were ranked top team in the polls last week and faced Bowman County, the fifth ranked team in those same polls. While the contest was more evenly matched than the score would indicate.

The Bulldog girls won the opening tip and scored the first points in the game. The Honkers found their tempo and began chasing Bowman County – who led 13-10 at the end of the first quarter of play.

The second quarter of play was a defensive battle between two teams not ready to end their season yet. Both teams worked their game play with hustle and energy with the first half ending in a 19-19 tie.

The Bulldogs led in rebounding while the Honkers led in shooting percentages in the first half of play. What Bowman County lacked in shooting numbers they made up for with a one steal more than Kenmare-Bowbells.

That advantage in shooting percentage began to work in the Honkers favor. By the end of the game, shooting 17-41 for 41.5 percent, with 3-10 from the arc was the difference for the win.

Taya Aufforth led Kenmare-Bowbells with 16 points and nine rebounds in the win. The points in the paint battle was won by the Honkers 22-12 with inside scoring being the major difference on the stat sheet. Brea Chrest added ten points for Kenmare-Bowbells.

Bowman County was led by Sophia Headley with 16 points while Jordyn Honeyman added 11 in the effort for the Bulldogs.

R4-2 Central McLean 67, R3-3 TGU 57

The efforts by TGU, ranked tenth in the state, were not enough to unseat the second ranked team in the same polls for a shot at the state tournament.

R1-2 Linton-HMB 48, R2-3 Hatton Northwood 43

The eighth ranked team in the polls edged another team that had received votes in the polls last week to advance to the state tournament.

R2-2 Benson County 69, R1-3 Maple River 57

The third ranked team in the polls beat Maple River who had received votes in the same polls. Benson County took the open seat at the state tournament.

State Pairings for the 2024-2025 NDHSAA Division B State Girls Basketball Tournament are set. The quarterfinal games will be played Thursday, March 6, at the Jamestown Civic Center.

On day one at the Civic Center, in the quarterfinal round, No. 2 Kenmare-Bowbells will face No. 7 Grant County/Mott-Regent in the upper bracket followed by No. 3 Central McLean against No. 6 Langdon Area/Munich in the second matchup.

In the lower bracket, No. 1 Berthold will take on No. 8 Linton-HMB in game three while No. 4 Benson County will face No. 5 LaMoure-LM in the fourth and final match of day one.