Stars finish off Titans in opener

• Andrea Jirges

Courtesy Photo by Chris Aarhus Dickinson Trinity senior Andrea Jirges, left, and sophomore Katelyn Grinsteinner, right, defend against Bottineau’s Whitney Page at the Shootout on the Prairie on Friday at the Minot Municipal Auditorium.

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MINOT — Mike Forsberg isn’t sure why his team starts slow.

The Bottineau head coach said he thinks it’s a head problem and believes it can be corrected in practice.

“It’s a mental adjustment more than anything,” said Forsberg, who entered the season with 707 career wins. “It’s something we’re gonna have to work on.”

The Stars can spend extra time working on starting fast and less time on finishing after they rallied to beat Dickinson Trinity 43-41 at the Shootout on the Prairie on Friday at the Minot Municipal Auditorium.

Danielle McDonald had 10 of her 12 points in a fourth quarter that saw the Stars trail 32-29 at the start. Heidi Artz also finished with 12 points.

Bottineau took its final lead on a McDonald inside bucket with 5 minutes, 21 seconds remaining in the game. However, Trinity never trailed by more than three the rest of the way and had two crucial turnovers in the final 35 seconds. The Titans had 27 in the game.

Despite the high count, Trinity coach Alysia Barman said she was more disappointed with how the previous quarters ended.

The Titans enjoyed a 10-point lead at one point in the second quarter before settling for a one-point lead at half. They also had a seven-point advantage in the third before the Stars cut it to three at the quarter break.

“We didn’t finish any of our quarters,” Barman said. “That was the biggest thing. There were a lot of things offensively and defensively we didn’t do well, but it was our effort to close out quarters that we were disappointed in the most.”

Trinity was led in scoring by Nikki Grinsteinner’s 14 points. Katelyn Grinsteinner added 11 for the Titans, who play Des Lacs-Burlington at 1 p.m. today.

Bottineau meets Thompson at 6:15 p.m.

Forsberg said he felt his guards did a good job of pressuring Trinity in the full court.

“We’ve got pretty good quickness up front,” Forsberg said. “We felt our guards could pressure them early in the game.”

Bottineau 10 21 29 43

Trinity 11 22 32 41

B: Danielle MacDonald 14, Heidi Artz 10, Whitney Page 7, Katrina Hahn 3, Courtney Gallagher 3, MacKenzie Jensen 2, Trista Bjerk 2, Stephanie Brendan 2.

T: Nikki Grinsteinner 16, Katelyn Grinsteinner 9, Kelbie Ficek 4, Rachel Jahner 1, Andrea Jirges 3, Kelsey Diechert 2, Jillian Stockert 4, Gretchen Weir 2.

3-pointers: B 1 (Page), T 2 (K. Grinsteinner 2). Free throws: B 8-15, T 9-15. Total fouls: B 15, T 15. Fouled out: B Page. Records: B 1-0, T 0-1.

Tags: girls basketball, trinity titans, sports, preps, titans, trinity