In the last two games, the New Town girls basketball team doesn’t have many complaints.
The Eagles defeated Turtle Mountain - which garnered one vote in the Class A poll - and they were ready for more.
New Town used the come-from-behind win over the Braves on Friday to edge No. 7-ranked Dickinson Trinity 64-61 on Saturday at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.
“We are still kind of coming together as a team and learning our roles,” New Town head coach Cliff Tollefson said. “These last two games we’ve really started to figure that out. Players are understanding and playing their roles. That shows with two quality wins against two quality opponents.”
In Friday’s game against Turtle Mountain, New Town senior guard Baeleigh Brady had a game-high 30 points. She followed up with a game-high 19 points against the Titans.
“People doubt us, because we are kind of a young team, but at the same time that makes us want to push harder and prove people wrong,” she said.
Trinity (2-1) knew the Eagles emotions were running high. The game plan was to limit New Town’s (5-1) offensive chances.
“Turtle Mountain is one of the better teams in the WDA that have been playing well,” Trinity head coach Alysia Barman said. “We knew they were coming off of a high note, but I thought we executed our game plan really well. Brady is going to get her points night-in and night-out. We wanted some of their other shooters to beat us.”
With Saturday’s game being a back-and-forth battle throughout the first 24 minutes, New Town held a slim 42-40 lead to start the fourth quarter.
However, the Eagles increased their lead from two to 11, 56-45, in the first two minutes. The 14-5 run included four 3-pointers with two coming from Chelsey Quick Bear. The junior guard came off the bench and went 4 of 5 from 3-point range to finish with 12 points.
“It always helps to have a bench player that can play as well as she did tonight,” Tollefson said about Quick Bear. “We changed up our offense a little bit at halftime, which allowed us to be a little more free flowing and have a little bit more movement. We talked about finding shooters. If somebody makes a shot and they are starting to warm up, we don’t want to go away from them.”
The Titans chipped away at New Town’s lead the next four minutes. With 1:45 left in the fourth quarter, Trinity cut the Eagles’ lead to three, 62-59, after sophomore forward Kennedy Keator drained a 3-pointer.
“We held with them the whole game,” said Keator, who finished with a team-high 18 points. “We continued to fight.”
New Town caught a break when Keator missed back-to-back free throws with less than a minute to play. Senior forward Jasmyne Big Crow - who finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds - knocked in New Town’s final basket with 38 seconds left.
Trinity senior guard Rachel Jahner posted the final layup as time expired. Jahner ended with 16 points. The senior guard said this game was a good lesson learned.
“As a team, we just played together throughout the entire game and we never quit,” she said. “We had a couple opportunities, but they just didn’t go our way.”
After the first quarter, New Town held a 16-14 lead. Yet eight minutes later at halftime, Trinity took a 31-28 advantage. Jahner said the team talked about continuing to battle, because if the team gave New Town an inch, it could take a mile.
“They had so many good shooters on that team,” she said. “They took every opportunity that they had and made a lot of them.”
The road for the Titans doesn’t get any easier. Trinity hosts defending Class B state champions and No. 1-ranked Minot Ryan at 4 p.m. Monday.
“We were happy with the way the girls came out and executed, but we need to make ourselves better because I think we have one of the hardest schedules in the state,” Barman said. “We stressed that we can’t take a night off, because it’s not going to get any easier. We have to make sure we are mentally prepared.”
Keator added: “We learned that we can’t give up and we have to keep going. We have a tough schedule ahead of us, so we just have to keep playing hard and we’ll eventually get better from there.”
New Town 16 28 42 64
Trinity 14 31 40 61
NT: Baeleigh Brady 19, Jasmyne Big Crow 14, Chelsey Quick Bear 12, LaRiah Quick Bear 9, Kirah Morsette 5, Rayessa Baker 5.
T: Kennedy Keator 18, Rachel Jahner 16, Brianna Soehren 8, Madison Jahner 7, Alanna Sickler 4, Jillian Stockert 4, Katelyn Grinsteinner 4.
3-pointers: NT 10 (C. Quick Bear 4, Brady 4, Baker 1, Morsette 1), T 4 (Jahner 3, Keator 1). Free throws: NT 10-15, T 13-19. Total fouls: NT 18, T 15. Fouled out: NT, Brady. Records: NT 5-1, T 2-1.
