Bruins snap losing streak, defeat rival Fargo North

The Bruins had been playing solid basketball over the last 3 weeks, but just never had the payoff in the win column, but that changed on Tuesday night in the Spartandome, as Fargo South came away with a 61-42 win over Fargo North. The Bruins played solid defense all night long, and had a great team effort by everyone in the win. Bria Taber started the scoring for South, making a three point play off an assist from Madeline Strandemo. The Bruins passed the ball well all night, dishing out 17 assists. After the Spartans tied the game at 9-9 halfway through the first period, South went on a 13-3 run which was spread out between 5 players - Bria Taber made a pair of freethrows, Sadie Sholl, who gave the Bruins a big lift off the bench, scored on an inside basket, Madeline Strandemo hit a three pointer, and Emily Stroup and Anna Diederich both hit midrange jumpers in that run, and South led 22-12 with 4 minutes before half, and led 24-18 at halftime. In the second half though the Bruins were able to make some plays that had been escaping them earlier in the season. Anna Diederich got South off to a great start in the half, with a great assist to Emily Stroup to start the scoring, then sandwiched an offensive rebound putback basket between a pair of three pointers, and the Bruins took a 34-22 lead just 2 minutes into the second half. South maintained that lead for the next few minutes with the lead growing to 39-24 with 10 minutes left in the game. The Spartans though weren't just going to roll over. Back to back hoops made it a 39-28 game just a minute later, and the Bruins found themselves staring at a momentum change. But on this night, South would answer the challenge. Emily Stroup scored on a Madeline Strandemo assist, then Strandemo would make a pair of freethrows and nail a three pointer, then assisted on an Anna Diederich three pointer, and just like that the lead had grown to 49-30 with 6 minutes to play. North made one last run at the Bruins, cutting the lead to 51-38 late, but South made freethrows down the stretch and handled the ball, and came away with the hard fought win. Both Strandemo and Diederich had 18 points, while Emily Stroup played a fantastic all-around game, defending all-conference center Kira Larson while scoring 10 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. But this win was a total team effort, with everyone contributing something positive. The win improves South to 2-11 overall. Next action for the Bruins is Friday night when they host Wahpeton.

play by play of the game
complete boxscore

Boxscore:
Fargo South: Erickson 1 0-0 2, Strandemo 6 4-6 18, Taber 2 3-3 7, Stroup 4 2-3 10, Diederich 7 1-2 18, Sholl 1 0-0 2, Anderson 1 2-2 4; Totals: 22 12-16 61, Three point goals: Diederich 3, Strandemo 2

Fargo North: Bergeron 3 2-2 8, Muellenberg 2 0-0 6, Larson 5 5-8 15, Schmiess 1 0-2 2, Dehne 0 2-4 2, Johnson 3 1-6 7, Nyanfor 1 0-0 2; Totals: 15 10-23 42, Three point goals: Muellenberg 2

Fouled out: none; Total Fouls: South 19, N 13; Rebounds: South 35(Stroup, Diederich 6), N 45(Larson 14); Assists: South 17(Erickson, Strandemo 4), N 11, Steals: South 12(Strandemo 4), N 10(); Turnovers: South 19, N 27