Cardinals crush Honkers, reach title game

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BISMARCK — There hasn’t been a nastier flock of birds since the classic 1963 thriller movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock was released.

The Cardinals of Carrington stormed the court of the Bismarck Civic Center on Friday and took away just about every toy the No. 2-ranked Kenmare Honkers had during the semifinals of the Class B state girls basketball tournament.

Carrington stung the Honkers with seven 3-pointers, outrebounded them 46-27 and held them to a dismal 19 percent performance from the floor as it breezed into tonight’s championship game with a 62-27 romp over the Honkers.

“I’m surprised by the final score. Kenmare is a good team,” Carrington coach Andy Braaten said. “To outrebound them by 20, that’s effort.”

Carrington received a solid effort from just about every player they put on the floor, but none bigger than the performance put forth by Sierra Rosenau. The junior guard scored 16 points and snatched 12 rebounds, helping the Cards advance to their first title game since the 1989-90 season.

“All we could think of is we are going to the ‘ship,” Rosenau said of her team. “We all try to play our game like usual in big games like this. If we can end it in a state championship, how good would that be?

“I couldn’t express it in words.”

Carrington locked itself into a 2-3 zone defensively for the entire game and pressed the full length of the court for a majority of it. Kenmare was able to deal with the press, as they did during their 48-36 quarterfinal win over Beach, but they were unable to break Carrington’s zone.

Kenmare tossed up six 3-pointers in the first quarters and only connected on one of the, as Carrington packed things in tight around Kenmare’s all-state senior center Katie King and led 13-9 after one.

The Cardinals didn’t waste any time breaking the game open in the second quarter.

Carrington’s Brittney Roundy, Rosenau and Noelle Moser teamed up to drain three consecutive 3-pointers to open the frame and took a commanding 22-9 lead with 6:10 left in the half.

“I don’t know if anyone would have been able to beat (Carrington) tonight,” Kenmare coach Jason Schwarz. “If they play like that tomorrow, good things will happen.”

Kenmare scored just two points in the second and trailed 29-11 at the half. King finished the game with a team-high 10 points.

Carrington was in no need to be in a hurry in the third and was looking for quality shots on offense. They found them, as the Cards ballooned the lead to 30 (44-14) with 2:34 left before the fourth.

When it was all over Carrington had shot 44.6 percent from the field on 25-of-56 shooting. Carrington’s Emily Thompson ended the night with 11 points and eight assists, while Becca Scherr and Brittney Roundy each scored nine.

“We used up everything yesterday, I think,” Schwarz said. “When the legs go, the head and the heart aren’t far behind.”

Kenmare defeated Carrington 46-34 way back on Dec. 10 in both teams’ season-opening game in Minot.

Kenmare takes on Linton-Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock in the third-place match today at 5 p.m., while Carrington moves on to face Central Cass at 7 p.m. in the Championship game.

Carrington had to settle for a third-place finish at state one year ago, after Beach knocked them out of this very same game, 67-38. Beach is also the team that has defeated Carrington in both of its previous state title game appearances, which came in 1989 and 1990.

Coming into the tournament Braaten was hoping his team could put together a complete four periods of play, and it will be difficult for the Cards to put together a game any better than they did on Friday against the Honkers.

“It was awful close, on both ends. Our perimeter shooting was there, Emily (Thompson) showed up to play and all of our kids boxed out well,” Braaten said. “We’ll have to put four quarters together (tonight).”

Carrington 13 29 50 62

Kenmare 9 11 20 27

C: Rosenau 16, Thompson 11, Roundy 9, Scherr 9, No. Braaten 8, Indergaard 6, Hochhalter 2.

K: King 10, Miller 8, Munson 6, Lemere 3.

3-pointers: C 7 (Scherr 3, Rosenau 2, No. Braaten 2, Roundy 1), K 3 (Miller 1, Lemere 1, King 1). Free throws: C 5-8, K 6-8. Total fouls: C 10, K 12. Rebounds: C 46 (Rosenau 12), K 27 (King 6). Assists: C 17 (Thompson 8), K 2 (King 2).

Savaloja is a reporter for The Jamestown Sun, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.

Tags: class b state tournament, sports, preps, basketball