The Britton-Hecla girls basketball squad advanced to the Region 1B semifinals on Thursday but top-seeded Warner put an end to the Lady Braves’ season with a 64-31 decision.
B-H defeated Hitchcock-Tulare 46-40 in the quarterfinal regional round in Britton last week Tuesday and finished its season with an 8-14 mark. Warner (20-2) is the sixth seed in the SoDak 16 round and will meet #11 Herreid-Selby (15-7) for a Class B state tournament berth on Thursday. Northwestern stopped Leola-Frederick 49-47 to earn the other SoDak 16 spot from Region 1B and plays secondseeded Harding County (21-0) Thursday.
“Our goal was to get to the second round and then to hopefully upset somebody,” said B-H coach Terry Nelson. “But we ran into a very athletic team with long arms and they can jump.
“Against Hitchcock-Tulare I thought we played good defense. Everybody had a hand in it and I thought we had a good all-around performance. And hitting our free throws was big time for us.
“Playing all those tough teams helped us to improve a lot over the season,” concluded Nelson. “Our shooting and passing got better, and I think defense was our biggest improvement. Now everybody has to improve for next year and learn what it takes to be successful.”
Four seniors will graduate from this year’s club. They include regulars Addison Wade, Jayden Bender, and Tiyanna Schott, and reserve Faith Small.
Britton-Hecla 46 Hitchcock-Tulare 40
Britton-Hecla scored 14 points in the first four minutes of the second half to lead Hitchcock-Tulare by 13 and then weathered a Patriots fourth quarter rally to advance to the regional semifinals.
The Lady Braves started fast As Heather Storbakken hit the game’s first four points and Jayden Bender added a fielder for a 6-0 lead with five minutes gone in the opening period. But the visitors went on a 10-3 run to lead 10-9 early in the second stanza. After a couple of lead changes Addison Wade swished a three-pointer with one tick left on the clock to give the local cagers a 17-15 halftime advantage.
Sterling Brassfield, who led the Lady Braves with 13 points, came out firing in the third period, hitting a pair of free tosses, a trey, and another fielder to give her team a 2415 lead with just 1:40 gone in the quarter. Bender added a three-point play, Wade hit a bucket, and Mallory Grupe put in a follow shot to cap a 143 run and put the Lady Braves on top 31-18 with 4:02 left in the third period.
H-T hit three straight hoops to cut the margin to 31-24 but Bender responded with a trey from the corner to make it 3424 after three stanzas.
Then Hitchcock-Tulare made things interesting. The Patriots came up with a trio of treys that fueled a 13-4 run and cut the margin to 38-37 with 3:12 remaining. But the visitors did not score again until right before the buzzer.
The Lady Braves hit six free tosses down the stretch, two each from Bender, Tiyanna Schott, and Wade, and Schott added a fielder for an 8-0 run to put the game away.
Brassfield corralled 15 rebounds and had four steals to go with her 13 points and Bender added 10 counters and four assists.
HITCHCOCK-TULARE: Katelyn Schroeder 6 6-7 19, Isabel Gilbert 0 34 3, Gracyn Bixler 1 0-0 3, Rebecca Huizenga 0 0-2 0, Cambree Hoekman 4 0-0 10, Emmerie Arthurs 1 2-3 5. Totals 12 11-16 40.
BRITTON-HECLA: Sterling Brassfield 4 4-8 13, Tiyanna Schott 2 2-4 6, Jayden Bender 3 3-7 10, Addison Wade 2 2-2 7, Heather Storbakken 1 44 6, RaeAnn Hagenson 0 2-2 2, Mallory Grupe 1 0-2 2. Totals 13 17-29 46.
H-T (7-14) 8 15 24 40 B-H (8-13) 9 17 34 46
3-point goals – Hoekman 2, Schroeder, Bixler, Arthurs; Total fouls – HT 23, BH 20.
Warner 64 Britton-Hecla 31
Warner exploded for 26 first quarter points to lead by 15 after one period and Britton-Hecla wasn’t able to cut into that deficit.
The Lady Braves hung tough in the second stanza, trailing by 17 at the half, but Warner outscored B-H 25-9 in the second half.
Heather Storbakken led the Lady Braves with nine points.
BRITTON-HECLA: Sterling Brassfield 3 0-0 7, Tiyanna Schott 1 0-0 2, Jayden Bender 3-8 5, Addison Wade 3 0-0 6, Heather Storbakken 3 2-4 9, RaeAnn Hagenson 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 512 31.
WARNER: Kyra Marcuson 9 00 21, Ava Nilsson 6 0-0 12, Kyleigh Schopp 5 4-5 14, Sophia Hoeft 1 0-0 3, Lauren Marcuson 1 0-2 2, Stacia Carda 4 0-2 8, Jordyn Jensen 1 0-0 2, Brooke Haaland 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 4-9 64.
BH (8-14) 11 22 31 31 Warner (20-2) 26 39 52 64
3-point goals – Brassfield, Storbakken; K. Marcuson 3, Hoeft. Total fouls – BH 10, Warner 13.
