Bruins defeat Packers, earn East Region Championship

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Fargo South captured the East Region title for the second time in 3 years on Saturday night as they held off a 4th quarter rally by the West Fargo Packers and earned a 53-41 win and the top seed in next week's Class A State Tournament, also in the Alerus Center. The Bruins jumped out early for the second straight night as Jenna Lee hit a three pointer to start the game. Ali Edwards answered with a pair of freethrows to make it 3-2, but that is as close as the Packers would be the rest of the night. Kirsten Pattison scored inside, Nicki Brodeur had a nice drive through the lane for a hoop, and Jenna Lee hit 2 more baksets from the baseline to give South an 11-2 lead midway through the opening period. Jo-Jo Haerter swished a midrange pull up shot from the right elbow to cut the lead to 11-4, but then both teams had trouble scoring. The Packers difficulty came from a low shooting percentage - West Fargo shot just 18% in the opening half, while the Bruins offensive struggles came due to an uncharacteristically high number of turnovers - South had more turnovers in the first half than they did for the entire previous game. Neither team scored the remainder of the period, and South held the 11-4 lead after one. In the second, South began to slowly extend their lead in a fairly evenly played quarter. With Jenna Lee and Nicki Brodeur both hampered with foul trouble, the rest of the Bruins picked up the slack. Lindsay Sauvageau scored on a nice drive through the lane, Cammi Greenheck made a pair of freethrows and also scored a hoop, while Kirsten Pattison scored twice more inside, including nice catch and turnaround from the right block on a nice pass from Sauvageau. Ali Stensgard, playing her first minutes of the tournament due to illness, also scored on a tough turnaround inside. South looked as if they might take a double-digit lead into halftime, leading 23-13, but Andrea Hummel grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled on her putback attempt and made a pair of freethrows with 0.2 seconds left in the half to make it a 23-15 score. It was the third quarter that made all the difference in the game though. South put together a nice stretch of basketball to begin to widen the gap. Cammi Greenheck hit a three pointer from the left wing to get things going, then Lindsay Sauvageau scored a midrange shot. The Packers answered on hoops from Jo-Jo Haerter, Ali Edwards, and Andrea Hummel, but the next couple of plays really sparked South to a big lead. Jill Gagner chased down an offensive rebound, a theme that was repeated a number of important times in the second half, then found herself unguarded at the right wing three point line where she nailed the long shot to give South a 33-24 lead. On the ensueing possession, Gagner made a great hustle play to steal the entry pass in the Packer halfcourt offense, then flipped it ahead to Cammi Greenheck who slashed to the basket and was fouled for a conventional three point play to stake the Bruins to a 36-24 lead and those back to back nice plays seemed to really energize the entire Bruin team. Shortly after that, Greenheck made a nice pass ahead to Lindsay Sauvageau who made a great catch and difficult layup to push the lead to 38-24, which was the third quarter score. In the fourth, it looked as though the Bruins were going to blow the game wide open as Ali Stensgard made a freethrow, then a basket, and South found themselves with a 41-24 lead just 45 seconds into the final quarter. However, the Packers made one big push after that. Ali Edwards hit a three pointer to make it 41-27, then stole the inbounds pass and was fouled. After making one freethrow to cut it to 41-28, the Packers again forced a Bruin turnover and got the ball back. A basket by Andrea Hummel made it 41-30, and Jo-Jo Haerter made a freethrow to cut the South lead to 41-31. midway through the period. South got a big basket inside by Kirsten Pattison to stem the tide and make it 43-31, but the Packers would continue to cut into that lead. Andrea Hummel got to the freethrow line a number of times and cashed in. The Bruins got two more big plays as Cammi Greenheck slashed through the defense and made a tough pull up shot in the lane, and Kirsten Pattison drained a long two pointer from up top, and with just under 2 minutes to play, South was clinging to a 47-41 lead. Perhaps the game winner came not on a basket for South, but on another important offensive rebound. Cammi Greenheck's freethrow attempt came off the back rim, but Lindsay Sauvageau came up with the huge offensive rebound, and the Bruins were able to reset their offense, forcing the Packers to again foul. This time, Greenheck knocked down both freethrows, giving South a 49-41 lead with just over a minute to play. Big rebounds on the defensive end by Jenna Lee and Ali Stensgard resulted in more fouls by the Packers, and Greenheck and Sauvageau both nailed 2 more freethrows each to make the final score 53-41. South was paced by the 16 points and 7 assists of Cammi Greenheck, but every girl on the court had a big play somewhere in the game. South improves to 18-4 on the season, and opens State Tournament play Thursday night against Minot. Jenna Lee and Cammi Greenheck were named to the All-Conference team for the second straight year.

See the complete boxscore here

Boxscore:
Fargo South: Gagner 1 0-0 3, Sauvageau 3 2-2 8, Greenheck 4 7-8 16, Brodeur 1 0-0 2, Lee 3 0-0 7, Stensgard 2 1-2 5, Hageman 0 2-2 2, Pattison 5 0-0 10; Totals 21 14-19 60, Three point goals: Lee 3, Greenheck

West Fargo: Doggett 0 1-2 1, Haerter 2 1-2 5, Edwards 4 5-6 14, Gjestvang 1 2-2 4, Hummel 3 9-10 15, Dell 1 0-0 2; Totals: 11 18-29 41, Three point goals: Edwards

Fouled out: none; Total Fouls: South 18, WF 17; Rebounds: South 34(Stensgard 8), WF 21(Haerter 4), Steals: South 9(Greenheck 4), WF 9, Turnovers: South 25, WF 19; Assists: South 16(Greenheck 7), WF 8(Edwards 4)