Fargo South advances to state tournament

What a difference a week makes. Just one week after Fargo Shanley kept South from the outright EDC crown, the Fargo South Bruins won the more important state qualifying game Saturday morning in a game that went down to the final play. South jumped out early, scoring the first 10 points of the game before the Deacons got their game legs under them. The Deacons made a defensive switch though, going to a triangle and two defense, chasing Tamar Elias and Renae Whitford that allowed the Deacons to get back in the game and acually take a 16-15 first quarter lead. Both teams battled evenly through the second quarter, with neither team taking a lead of more than on basket, and the score was tied at 27 at halftime. The Bruins were able to push to a small lead in the third quarter and maintain that throughout most of the second half, and led by 5 at 45-40 going into the final quarter. South was able to play very patiently on offense while Shanley was forced to get out of their triangle and two. South led by five with just over a minute left in the game, 53-48, but back to back turnovers by the Bruins let Shanley chip away until the score was 53-52 with just over 20 seconds left in the game. South had the ball and had a chance to score, but the Bruins missed a contested shot right under the basket and Shanley secured the rebound and called for a timeout with 3.8 seconds left and the ball at midcourt. South had a foul to give though, and as the ball was inbounded, the Bruins fouled which ran off another second. With the season on the line and the crowd very vocal, the Bruins thought Colee Silovich had stolen the inbounds pass on the ensueing throw in, but Shanley was awarded a time out and the Deacons kept control of the ball. On the next throw in, Shanley star Megan Clark drove down the lane but her shot as time ran out was blocked by Kristi Kilander and the Bruins were on their way to state. Lost in the offensive excitement was the job that Colee Silovich and Renae Whitford did on Clark, holding her to just 8 points for the game. The Bruins also got a spark for the second straight game by sophomore Alicia Calkins who made two big freethrows down the stretch to help keep the lead. The Bruins will play Fargo North in the third place game on Saturday night.

Boxscore:

Fargo South: Kilander 2 4-4 8, Whitford 4 0-0 10, Elias 6 2-3 14, Silovich 3 0-0 6, Holman 4 3-4 11, Calkins 1 2-2 4; Totals 20 11-13 53. Three point goals: Whitford 2

Fargo Shanley: Clark 3 0-0 8, Mathern 2 3-4 7, Kapitan 1 0-0 3, Elias 3 0-0 8, Johnson 2 0-0 4, Sampson 3 0-0 6, Peterson 4 8-8 16; Totals 18 11-14 52. Three point goals: Clark 2, Elias 2, Kapitan.

Fouled out: none. Total fouls: Fargo South 12, Shanley 13, Rebounds: Fargo South 36 (Whitford, Elias, Kilander 6), Shanley 33(Peterson 15).

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