GF Red River upsets No. 2-seeded Majettes

FARGO - The Grand Forks Red River girls basketball team beat the No. 2-seeded Minot Majettes in the first round of the North Dakota Class A state tournament on Thursday.
Abysmal shooting from Minot and an aggressive Red River defense led to the Roughriders’ 48-36 win.
“We just had really good defense, that’s what got us there,” said Red River junior guard Olivia Schreiner.
Schreiner was Red River’s leading scorer with 10 points, mostly coming from
the 3-point line. Lexi Robson also put up 10 points for the Roughriders.
Both offenses struggled, but Minot’s unusual shooting struggles cost the team a chance at a state title.
Minot’s shooting woes started in the first half when the Majettes shot just 23 percent.
“Their team quickness caught us off-guard,” said Minot head coach Bernie Wasser. “They did a great job with their interior defense in that zone, and they were still able to get out on our shooters.”
Minot was 1-for-12 from the 3-point line in the first half and didn’t fare much better in the second half, shooting 2-for-10.
The last time Minot played Red River, the Majettes hit 12 3-pointers and beat the Roughriders 66-58.
“The first team we played them they had a lot better looks than they did this time,” Red River head coach Kent Ripplinger said. “It’s something we worked on, trying to get out and contest shots and try to rebound the basketball.”
At the start of the first half, Minot was in striking distance, only trailing by four. Red River went on an 8-4 run, and Minot was never able to scrape together a consistent offensive run.
“It’s tough because this is what we’ve been playing for all year long and felt we had it,” Wasser said. “I still believe we had a good enough team to get there but we just didn’t get this game taken care of and we gotta move on.”
Red River’s win built its confidence, but that confidence will be tested today when Red River takes on the undefeated Shanley Deacons in the tournament semifinals.
“We’re not going to do anything different than we normally do, and we’ll play the way we play and make some adjustments,” Ripplinger said. “They’re a good team, the best team in the state until someone beats them.”
Half: GFRR 23, M 17.
Red River – Robson 10, Schreiner 10, Burr 8, Hillebrand 8, Arason 7, Egeland 3,Mari Rustebakke 1, Bohm 1
Minot – Askvig 10, Suko 6, Bengson 5, Arnold 5, Hughes 3, S. Duttenhafer 3, Budeau 2, M. Duttenhafer 2