BISMARCK -- The Dickinson High girls basketball team got the ball to senior center Katelyn Steffan early and often and the strategy paid off.
Steffan scored 23 points, and had 13 rebounds and four steals while shooting 10 of 16 from the field as the Midgets outmuscled Bismarck St. Mary's 56-46 in West Region girls basketball on Monday night.
"Katelyn worked hard tonight and got a lot of decent looks," Dickinson coach Greg Jung said. "Our guards found her. We got it to her as often as we could."
Jung said the Midgets were looking for the highest percentage shot against St. Mary's because the team had struggled to shoot there in past years.
"We thought we were going to go with the highest percentage shots possible," Jung said.
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The Midgets had 12 steals, an aspect Jung was quick to point out.
"We tried playing zone the first eight minutes and it didn't work that well," Jung said. "We played man the rest of the game. We haven't really worked on man-to-man a whole lot but the kids came through and played it well."
The Saints struggled with the defensive switch, going scoreless the first six minutes of the second half.
Dickinson will host top-ranked Mandan at 5:45 p.m. Thursday.
The Braves are also ranked No. 25 in the latest CNN-Sports Illustrated national poll.
However, Jung believes there comes a time when every team gets knocked off its pedistal.
"I think we can compete with them," he said.
Still, Jung said he'd like to take positives away from the game even if Mandan would come away with a win.
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"Our seed is set in the tournament and we're just going into this game trying to improve," Jung said. "We know we're playing the best team in the state. We just want to improve on things offensively and defensively."
