South opens up East Region with win over Central

Fargo South started the game out strong, fought through a midgame lull, then finished with a flurry to post a 67-38 win over Grand Forks Central in the East Region opening round game on Saturday night in the Alerus Center. The Bruins jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead after Katie Thorson hit a three pointer and Amy Stroup made a conventional three point play followed up by another inside hoop. South extended that lead to 14-3 as Stroup and Ali Stensgard got to the freethrow line, and Siri Burck, who led all scorers with 16 points on the night, scored on an inside basket as well. The Bruins led 18-8 on a Caitlyn Haring basket with 10:35 to play, but then both teams went into a scoring drought as neither team scored again for over 4 minutes of action before the Knights converted a freethrow and neither team made a field goal until Amy Stroup scored inside again with just over 3 minutes to play in the half to give South a 20-13 lead. The Bruins gave themselves some breathing room before halftime as Kirsten Pattison and Katie Thorson both hit a pair of freethrows, and Kristen Anstadt scored inside for South shortly before the halftime buzzer, and the Bruins took a 28-17 lead into half. In the second, the Knights came out and cut into the lead, as Cami Cochran scored inside on a pair of hoops to cut the lead to 28-21, but the Bruins would put together a solid stretch of basketball after that. Freethrows by Caitly Haring and Amy Stroup added to the lead, and Siri Burck scored on a nice long pass ahead from Haring to push the lead out to 34-21 and forced a Knight time-out. South continued to pressure the ball, and that effort started to pay off, as the Bruins were able to get some transition hoops and half court offensive sets while holding the Knights down. Katie Thorson had a great pass inside to Ali Stensgard who was also fouled on the play, and later Thorson hit a long three pointer to really stretch things out. Katie also scored after a nice diagonal pass from Caitlyn Haring as well. The Bruins were able to rest their starters for the last 5 minutes of the game in anticipation of their semi-final matchup against Devils Lake Sunday night. South was led in scoring by Siri Burck's 16 points, and she was joined in double figures by Katie Thorson with 13 and Amy Stroup with 10. Caitlyn Haring also chipped in by grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out 8 assists. Kristen Anstadt also made her presence known with a pair of nice blocked shots.

See the complete box score here

Read the play by play here

Boxscore:
Fargo South: Burck 8 0-0 16, Thorson 3 5-7 13, Hage 1 0-1 2, Stroup 3 4-8 10, Haring 1 3-4 5, Pattison 1 2-5 4, Anstadt 2 0-0 4, Stensgard 2 2-5 6, Lee 1 0-0 2, Bruns 1 0-0 3, Deyle 1 1-2 3; Totals 24 17-32 68, Three point goals: Thorson 2, Bruns

GF Central: Urness 0 3-4 3, Palmosemo 1 0-0 2, Schreiner 4 0-0 11, Renden 2 0-0 4, Cochran 2 0-1 4, Bushaw 0 2-2 2, Gowen 0 2-4 2, Labahn 2 0-6 4, Olson 1 1-3 3, Branvold 0 1-2 1; Totals: 12 11-28 38, Three point goals: Schreiner 3

Fouled out: none; Total Fouls: South 23, GFC 26; Rebounds: South 51(Haring 10), GFC 31(Cochran 6), Assists: South 20(Haring 8), GFC 10(Cochran 3), Steals: South 9(Thorson 3), GFC 8(Gowen 4), Turnovers: South 19, GFC 17;