BEULAH -- Dickinson Trinity girls basketball coach Alysia Hugret said her team is at its best when it does the little things like rebounding and going after loose balls.
"We can achieve a lot of things if we do them," Hugret said. "We haven't been able to do them for four quarters. When we do them for four quarters, things work out for us."
The Titans may not have been perfect at doing the little things on Monday, but they were close.
Trinity out-rebounded Richardton-Taylor 42-24 and captured the District 14 tournament championship Monday with a 51-45 victory at the Beulah High School gymnasium.
The Titans enter next Monday's Region 7 tournament quarterfinals as District 14's top seed. They will take on New England at approximately 6 p.m. Second-seeded Richardton-Taylor goes up against Beach at 3 p.m. in the first game of the tournament.
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"I told the girls before the game that rebounding and turnovers were key for us," Hugret said. "That was the difference in the second half."
The Titans held a 27-9 rebounding edge in the second half, including a 14-2 advantage on the offensive boards. Trinity stole three offensive rebounds in the final 1:06 off missed free throws to keep the ball out of the Raiders' hands.
"That was huge for us," Hugret said. "(Senior) Noelle Steiner got some big rebounds for us. She set the tone for us. We fed off her."
"They killed us on the boards," Richardton-Taylor coach Bill Butterfield said.
Trinity had three players in double figures, led by Shannon Ernst's 12 points. Sophomore Marinna Marsh had 10 points while teammate Kaylee Schank also had 10. Schank was scoreless at halftime.
"I wasn't on right away," Schank said. "I kept shooting and shots started falling."
Trinity scored 27 points in the second half behind Schank's offensive output.
"We told her she needed to keep shooting the ball," Hugret said. "She stuck with it."
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Richardton-Taylor had a 30-24 lead at halftime on the strength of timely shooting and good defense, but the Raiders shooting dropped off in the second half. After hitting 52 percent of its shots in the first half, Richardton-Taylor shot just 28 percent in the second half.
"We were getting good looks, but shots weren't going in," Butterfield said. "Our shots weren't dropping and that was the turning point in the game."
Trinity opened the second half with an 8-0 run to take a 32-30 lead, eventually outscoring the Raiders 16-4 in the third quarter.
"We executed very well on defense," Hugret said. "We changed more things in the second half."
Richardton-Taylor senior Kaitlyn Forster had a game-high 16 points while senior Katie Zent scored 14.
The Raiders, who entered the tourney as the fifth seed, cut the fourth-quarter deficit down to four at one point, but missed out on scoring opportunities after giving up offensive rebounds.
Nonetheless, Butterfield said his squad will look to make another tournament run.
"We have nothing to hang our heads about," Butterfield said. "We'll take a couple of days off and hopefully stir up the pot at regionals."
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Dickinson Trinity 51, Richardton-Taylor 45
R-T 19 30 34 45
T 13 24 40 51
R-T: Kaitlyn Forster 16, Katie Zent 14, Kaylee Stein 6, Kayla Hoerner 5, Libby Forster 2, Mandy Naumann 2.
T: Shannon Ernst 12, Marinna Marsh 10, Kaylee Schank 10, Avery Jirges 6, Sheyenne Plummer 5, Noelle Steiner 5, Breanna Messer 3.
3-pointers: K. Forster 2, Schank, Plummer. Free throws: R-T 5-7, T 11-22. Rebounds: R-T 24 (Zent 7), T 42 (Steiner 10). Assists: R-T 10 (Zent 4), T 13 (Marsh 4). Steals: R-T 6 (Hoerner, K. Forster 2), T 8 (Schank, Plummer, Marsh 2). Turnovers: R-T 14, T 11.
Cowboys 52, Bison 44
Senior Tana Trotter dumped in 19 points and 11 rebounds to help top-seeded Killdeer advance to the regional tournament.
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Senior Kailey Appledoorn hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 6 minutes, 48 seconds to go in the contest to give Killdeer a 36-34 edge. The Bison never regained the lead.
"We started to attack," Killdeer coach Randy Binstock said.
Moments before Appledoorn's trey, the Cowboys were trying to keep Hazen at bay as the hard-charging Bison had already used a 12-2 run to take a 34-33 lead.
"We hit a dry stretch," Binstock said. "We had good defense, but we got out of control on the offensive end. ... We slowed it down and started to run some offense."
Killdeer responded with Appledoorn's 3-pointer to regain the lead and hit 6 of 8 from the charity stripe in the final 1:10 to sink the Bison. Appledoorn finished with 11, and senior Jamie Lee had 10 points.
"We've really improved on that down the stretch," Binstock said. "We stepped up and hit those."
Hazen was led in scoring by sophomore Allison Opp's 15 points. Teammate Steph Bohrer added 10.
Killdeer 52, Hazen 44
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Killdeer 20 28 32 52
Hazen 18 20 29 44
K: Tana Trotter 19, Kailey Appledoorn 11, Jamie Lee 10, Dani Sadowsky 6, Katie Dukart 5, Hailey Schaper 1.
H: Allison Opp 15, Stef Bohrer 10, Brianna Beecher 6, Jenna Maas 4, Breanna Oakland 4, Kelly Kuylen 3, Andrea Dacar 2.
3-pointers: Appledoorn 2, Lee 2, Dukart, Opp 3, Beecher 2. Free throws: K 13-24, H 9-14. Rebounds: K 41 (Trotter 9), H 37 (Bohrer 7). Assists: K 7 (Appledoorn 5), H 9 (Beecher, Maas 3). Steals: K 9 (Dukart 3), H 3 (Bohrer 2). Turnovers: K 13, H 13.
Miners 58, Bearcats 52
Beulah overcame another strong performance from Hebron-Glen Ullin standout Kylee Bittner to extend its season with a trip to the Region 7 tournament.
Sophomore Kelsey Kraft had 11 points and 16 rebounds, including a key putback off a missed Karsen Little Soldier free throw to give Beulah a 56-52 lead with 24 seconds remaining in the game.
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"That gave us some breathing room," Beulah coach Clarence Winfrey said. "You can play a little more relaxed."
Beulah held the Bearcats to just two field goals in the final 11:29, both of which came from Bittner.
The senior guard, who plans to continue her basketball career at Dickinson State in the fall, was on fire in the first half, scoring 18 of her team's 28 points. She had a personal 9-0 run to end the first half.
However, the Miners did a better job of slowing Bittner down in the second half. She finished with a game-high 26 points.
Despite allowing Bittner to go off in the first half, Beulah trailed by one three at halftime thanks to its own sharpshooter. Junior Jessie Battest had three 3-pointers in the first half and finished with a team-high 18 points.
"Her shooting tonight made a difference," Winfrey said. "Jessie stepped to the forefront and hit some 3-pointers when we needed her to."
Beulah 58, Hebron-Glen Ullin 52
H-GU 13 28 36 52
Beulah 17 25 37 58
H-GU: Kylee Bittner 26, Sarah Schaaf 8, Natalya Fode 8, Kayla Rebel 6, Christa Hellman 4.
B: Jessie Battest 18, Karsen Little Soldier 11, Kelsey Kraft 11, Shelby Schields 10, Jacey Pulver 6, Mahri Schumacher 1, Carissa Suter 1.
3-pointers: Bittner 3, Battest 4. Free throws: H-GU 19-25, B 12-22. Rebounds: H-GU 34 (Fode 9), B 46 (Kraft 16). Assists: H-GU 7 (Bittner, Rebel 3), B 12 (Schumacher 4). Steals: H-GU 7 (Bittner 5), B 8 (Little Soldier 3). Turnovers: H-GU 13, B 10.
