Bruins fall hard in Championship
Mandan put on the performance of the tournament in Saturday night's Championship game and routed #2 Fargo South 74-47 on their way to their second straight title. Playing in front of a huge crowd, the Braves scored early and often to put the Bruins back on their heels the whole game. Mandan used their quickness and pressure defense to score 4 quick points on turnovers to take a 4-0 lead. The Bruins responded with a three pointer by Rachel Wagner to make it 4-3. Junior post player Rebecca Kielpinski scored inside to make it 6-3, then South got a basket and a freethrow from Melanie Hageman to tie the game at 6-6, but from there, it was all Mandan. The Braves forced 10 turnovers in the quarter, forcing South to use up valuable time-outs, and rolled to a 23-9 lead after one. The second quarter was more of the same. South couldn't seem to get people in the right spots to handle the Mandan press, and the Braves took advantage, forcing more turnovers and getting easy layups. When the Braves weren't shooting layups, they were knocking down shots from the outside, and when those happended to not go in, the Kielpinksi sisters cleaned up the mess inside. Freshman Jessica Kielpinski had 15 points and 6 boards by halftime, while Rebecca had 10 points. The Bruins 17 turnovers and 29% shooting left them on the back side of a 39-18 score at the break. The long night continued for South in the third as the Brave guards got into the scoing column as well, and by the end of the third, the Braves had built an insurmountable 59-29 lead. About the only bright spot for South in the entire game came late in the fourth when Class A Player of the Year Melanie Hageman scored on a driving basket to go over the 1000 point mark for her career. South ends the year 22-3, tying a school record for most wins in a season.
See the complete boxscore here
Boxscore:
Fargo South: Mehlisch 1 1-2 3, Sauvageau 1 0-0 3, Kraft 1 0-0 3, Hageman 3 4-6 10, Lee 1 0-0 3, Hannaher 2 0-1 6, Wagner 2 0-0 5, Thingelstad 4 4-5 12, Tharaldson 1 0-0 2; Totals 16 9-14 47, Three point goals: Hannaher 2, Lee, Sauvageau, Wagner, Kraft
Mandan: Zerr 3 3-4 10, Jochim 1 2-2 4, Kraft 2 0-0 4, Bear 6 0-0 12, Zander 2 0-0 5, Kranda 1 0-0 2, Runge 1 0-0 2, Steyle 2 0-0 4, J. Kielpinski 8 1-1 17, R. Kielpinksi 6 2-2 14; Totals: 32 8-9 74, Three point goals: Zerr, Zander
Fouled out: none; Total Fouls: South 11, Mandan 12; Rebounds: South 27(Thingelstad 6), Mandan 32(Zerr, J. Kielpinski 7), Steals: South na, Mandan na, Turnovers South 24, Mandan 10; Assists: South 8(Kraft, Hannaher 2)