Midgets see silver linings in loss in home finale

DICKINSON – Losing by 30 points is a looooong way from ideal.

But, often you can see the silver lining in even the most disastrous loss … if you know where to look.

In the case of the Dickinson High School girls (7-13), while the final score ended up 79-49 to a sharpshooting collection of Minot Magicians, the first-half performance was inspired. The Midgets kept it close during the opening 9 minutes of the game, trading punches with Minot (17-3) with strong low-post play from Jazmin Berry, who scored 10 points in the first half and pulled down some crucial rebounds to keep things close in the early stages. Berry would end up with 12 total points – her second strong performance in a row after scoring 16 versus Williston on Tuesday – but she ran into early foul trouble that limited her time on the court throughout the rest of the game, which was the home finale of the 2022-23 season.

“I thought the girls played really hard, but unfortunately we went on a stretch of eight minutes where we couldn't get any shots to fall,” Midgets Head Coach Devan Douglas said. “I thought the girls did a really good job on the boards tonight, but they just kept knocking shots down and we didn't.”

DHS battled back from an early hot start by Minot, and took a 15-14 lead at the 10-minute mark. Abbey Dutke dropped in a timely tre and Caton Pearcy completed a 3-point play, but it was shortly thereafter that Minot seemed to magically start scoring 3-pointers at will.

“It was a tough loss; we did not play our best but we played hard at times and we gave it our best shot,” Pearcy said. “We were getting out on them, but they're a really good shooting team.”

MHS junior guard Avery Lunde had a game-high 20 points – 11 of which came in the first half, including two 3-pointers – and four other Minot athletes connected on six others from downtown to keep DHS gasping for breath. In the second half, in was much of the same, with Minot conjuring up five more 3-pointers for a total of 11 in the game.

“They're (Minot) a very talented team, but I think our girls are very talented, too,” Douglas said. “It's just one of those nights where we didn't shoot very well and they did.”

With a 43-24 halftime lead in the scorebook, Minot put on the pressure in the second half, no matter what Dickinson tried. The shots weren’t falling for the Midgets the way they did on Tuesday against the Coyotes, but Caton Pearcy did the yeoman’s work with 9 second-half points to combine for a team-high 14. Pearcy did well to charge into the lane on driving scores and the senior shooting-guard sank an NBA-distance 3-pointer that brought the crowd to its feet.

Fellow senior point-guard Emily Ash also came on in the second half, scoring 7 points to end up in double-digits with 11, and Abbey Dutke nailed down another 3-pointer for 6 total in the game.

Next-up for Dickinson will be a Tuesday trip to Bismarck St.Mary’s to play the 8-11 Saints, who are coming off a 52-78 loss to Century on Tuesday, Feb. 16. The Saints beat DHS 61-43 on Jan. 10 in their last meeting. From there, the probability is that the Midgets will host Turtle Mountain/Belcourt in the postseason on Thursday or Friday.

“When we get into next week, all we can do is get better and get more shots up and keep playing hard,” Douglas added. “I don't think St. Mary's got our best shot last time. it was a tight game, and they ran away with it with about five minutes left, but I think that if we play our best we should beat them.”