No. 1-ranked Beach's chances for a return trip to the Class B state tournament look good following a dominant victory over Scranton on Saturday night during the District 13 girls basketball tournament semifinals.
The top-seeded Buccaneers, who received an opening-round bye, rolled to a 71-19 victory over the fourth-seeded Miners at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.
Beach senior Brittney Dietz finished with 15 points and seven rebounds after a quiet first half and senior Jill Rising added 11 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
Beach (20-0), the defending Class B state champion, has won 46 consecutive games the past two seasons and aims to make it 47 when it plays Heart River at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the championship game.
"I just wanted our kids to play well so they feel good, so they feel good about the team going into the next game," Beach head coach Bob Waldal said. "We've got to just get better and better."
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Senior Abby Weinreis added 10 points as all of Beach's 11 players scored. Nine got on the board in the first half.
Scranton kept things interesting -- at least for a couple minutes.
The Miners (8-13) scored the first four points as Beach struggled to get going.
But, it wasn't long before Rising and the Buccaneers began pulling away.
Rising scored seven of her 11 points in the first quarter and helped the Buccaneers take a 15-6 lead by the quarter's end.
Beach really took control as it stretched a 22-1 run over two quarters to take a 28-7 lead. The surge went from midway through the first quarter and well into the second.
"After our defense started picking up a little bit, then our offense started clicking," Rising said.
The Buccaneers led 38-12 at halftime and was up 54-16 at the end of the third quarter.
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They scored the final 15 points of the game, only allowing a 3-pointer by Scranton freshman Kaitlin Reitz.
Beach shot 31 of 69 (45 percent) from the field and forced the Miners into 30 turnovers.
"They feed off of teams," Scranton head coach Kelly Pierce said. "Once a team starts to feel a little defeated, they run with it. They're a good ball team and you've got to play extremely well to beat them."
Scranton 6 12 16 19
Beach 15 38 54 71
S: Kaitlyn Olson 7, Shelby Burns 7, Kaitlin Reitz 3, Rebecca Oase 2.
B: Brittney Dietz 15, Jill Rising 11, Abby Weinreis 10, Kelcee Dykins 8, Brooke Davison 6, Bailey Waldal 5, Hailee Farstveet 4, Bobbi Nielsen LaCee Vollum 4, Kiffin Howard 2, Cydni Stedman 2.
3-pointers: S 1 (Reitz), B 5 (Dietz 3, Davidson 1, Dykins 1). Free throws: S 2-8, B 4-10. Total fouls: S 14, B 12. Rebounds: S 27 (Burns 9), B 42 (Rising 9).
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Assists: S 4 (four with 1), B, 16 (Farstveet 4, Weinreis 4). Steals: S 7 (Olson 3), B 15 (Howard 4). Blocks: None. Turnovers: S 30, B 13.
Hettinger 54, New England 29
Tess Kilwein had 17 points and five assists to lead the Black Devils into Monday's region-qualifier game against Scranton.
Alix Pearson added 10 points and 14 rebounds while Samantha Kristy had 16 points and four rebounds for third-seeded Hettinger (8-13), which led 34-12 at halftime of the loser-out game.
Bryanna Rasch had eight points, seven rebounds and three steals as the season ended for the seventh-seeded Tigers (2-19). Heather Kuntz added seven points while Hannah Nordby had six points and 10 rebounds and Allison Urlacher scored six points.
Hettinger 12 34 52 54
NE 6 12 19 29
H: Tess Kilwein 17, Samantha Kristy 16, Alix Pearson 10, Reba Resner 9, Bailey Sadowsky 2.
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NE: Bryanna Rasch 8, Heather Kuntz 7, Hannah Nordby 6, Allison Urlacher 6, Autumn Wolf 2.
3-pointers: H 5 (Resner 3, Kilwein 1, Kristy 1), NE 0.
Free throws: H 9-18, NE 7-17. Total fouls: H 15, NE 13. Fouled out: NE, India Fitterer. Rebounds: NE 40 (Pearson 14), NE 28 (Nordby 10). Assists: H 13 (Kilwein 5), NE 8 (Volk 2, Fitterer 2). Steals: H 12 (Kilwein 3, Kristy 3), NE 14 (Gabbi Hanson 3, Rasch 3). Blocks: H 1 (Resner), NE 1 (Taylor Hewson). Turnovers: H 28, NE 22.
