REGION 7 TOURNAMENT: Titans go big to beat Hettinger-Scranton
There have been games this year when Dickinson Trinity junior Gretchen Weir and freshman Brianna Soehren have spent important chunks of games beside their coaches on the bench.By: Dustin Monke, The Dickinson Press
- Kennedy Keator
There have been games this year when Dickinson Trinity junior Gretchen Weir and freshman Brianna Soehren have spent important chunks of games beside their coaches on the bench.
With an eight-player rotation that can be tailored to size, speed or a little bit of both, the Titans entered the Region 7 girls basketball tournament Monday as the District 14 champions and having won 13 of their last 14 games.
In Monday’s quarterfinal game against Hettinger-Scranton, Trinity found itself modifying its game plan around Soehren and Weir. The 6-foot centers came off the bench and combined for 23 points and 22 rebounds to lead the Titans to a 46-24 victory at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.
“We knew our bigs were important for this game and they really stepped up to the challenge,” Trinity head coach Alysia Barman said. “When you look at us as a core group, we don’t put a lot of stock into the starting lineup and who’s in the starting lineup. You know, we try to be able to use our rotation to our advantage throughout the entire game. Gretchen and Brianna are certainly very good basketball players. They really stepped up and showed that night.”
Soehren had 12 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks and three steals while Weir had 11 points, nine rebounds and two blocks to lead the Titans (17-5), who face District 13 runner-up Bowman County at 6 p.m. today in the semifinals.
They helped Trinity hold a 57-32 edge on the boards and combined for 16 of the team’s 25 offensive rebounds. Together, they had 16 of the team’s 21 second-chance points and got better at making their shots in the post as the game went on.
“It really helps,” Soehren said. “Those little putbacks help pull up the score a lot. If we didn’t have those, we wouldn’t have as many points. Clearly, points win the game.”
Scoring was something that troubled Hettinger-Scranton in the first half.
The Night Hawks (10-12), the No. 4 seed from District 13, shot 1 of 23 from the field as Trinity raced out to a 17-5 halftime lead.
“I think it had a big effect on our overall game,” Hettinger-Scranton head coach Kelly Pierce said. “The first quarter, we had a few shots rattle in, rattle out. All year long, we’ve struggled shooting the ball at times. Once they started falling out, we didn’t stick with our game plan and we started shooting shots we didn’t need to shoot. We didn’t execute the way we wanted to.”
Trinity pulled away in the second half as Soehren, Weir and their teammates picked things up along the way, extending its lead to 31-13 by the end of the third quarter as the centers scored the final 10 points of the quarter.
Bailey Sadowsky had seven points and seven rebounds to lead the Night Hawks and was their only player to have a field goal in the first 20 minutes. Casey Joppa, Hettinger-Scranton’s leading scorer, came off the bench but couldn’t get much going. She shot 2 of 16 to finish with six points, five steals and four rebounds.
“I thought, again, we controlled the tempo of the game well,” Barman said. “We kept wearing on them with our pressure. We did a few things a little bit differently than our normal style of play. We limited some of their easy transition points and that was key for us tonight.”
HS 2 5 13 24
Trinity 10 17 31 46
HS: Bailey Sadowsky 7, Casey Joppa 6, Kaitlyn Olson 5, Cassie Holt 2, Kaitlin Reitz 2, Katie Wolf 2.
T: Brianna Soehren 12, Gretchen Weir 11, Kennedy Keator 6, Alanna Sickler 6, Madison Jahner 4, Rachel Jahner 4, Katelyn Grinsteinner 3.
3-pointers: HS 2 (Joppa, Olson), T 0. Free throws: HS 4-12, T 4-8. Total fouls: HS 10, T 9. Rebounds: HS 32 (Sadowsky 7), T 57 (Soehren 13). Assists: HS 4 (Holt 2), T 9 (R. Jahner 5). Steals: HS 10 (Joppa 5), T 10 (Soehren 3). Blocks: HS 2 (Joppa, Sadowsky), T 6 (Soehren 3). Turnovers: HS 11, T 14. Records: HS 10-12, T 17-5.
Tags: region 7, high school basketball, trinity titans, hettinger-scranton night hawks, sports, preps, basketball, trinity, titans, updates
More from around the web
RSS Feeds