Win, loss for HWC girls in District 7

Harvey-Wells County held off a furious New Rockford-Sheyenne comeback attempt to claim their first District 7 win off the season.

Earlier in the week, the Hornet girls played a solid first quarter, but Nelson County took control after that point to claim the victory.

The Hornet girls have had games against Towner-Granville-Upham and Warwick postponed because of weather so far this year. The TGU game was made up on Saturday January 22, in Towner.

Nelson Co. 49, HWC 30

Nelson County forced HWC into long scoring droughts in the first and second quarter, and that resulted in a 13-point lead, one which they did not surrender in a 49-30 win over the Hornets in McVille on Tuesday, January 11.

Marit Ellingson scored the first five points and the Chargers led, 7-0, before a three pointer from Lexi Fike stopped the Hornet slump. Kalyn Keller followed with another three, but Ellingson followed that up with her second trey of the quarter as Nelson County led, 10-7, after one.

Ellingson scored the first four of the second, and Krista Lippert scored the next six as the Chargers scored the first 12 points of the second quarter. Larissa Arnold's field goal at the 1:25 mark was the first Hornet points of the quarter, and that basket ended the scoring for the half with Nelson County leading, 22-9.

The Chargers continued to roll in the third, with 6'0" Hollie Emory getting into the action with five points. Ellingson and Sydnee Johnston each added four as Nelson County scored 17 in the quarter and increased the lead to 39-18 after three.

The Hornets found some success in the fourth, as Keller drained a three pointer and Fike followed that up with two more threes as HWC pulled to within 41-27 with four minutes to play. Nelson County answered with six straight and pulled away for the 19-point win.

Ellingson led all scorers with 18 points, while Lippert added 10 for the Chargers. HWC was led by Keller with 10 points.

HWC 49, NR-S 47

HWC withstood a valiant fourth quarter surge by NR-S to earn a hard fought 49-47 victory on Thursday, January 13, in Fessenden.

Keller scored 11 points in the opening quarter for HWC, as the Hornets led 14-9. A field goal at the first quarter buzzer by eighth grader Ava Peterson cut the lead to three for HWC after one.

Emma Dockter and Rachel Neumiller added buckets to start the second, as the Hornets increased the lead to seven points. Three points from Peterson and a deuce from Mya Cudworth cut the HWC lead to just two points midway through the second. The Hornets, behind four points from Larissa Arnold, finished the first half with an 8-3 advantage for the 26-19 halftime lead.

The Hornets controlled most of the third quarter with Dockter, Keller and Carsyn Ziegler knocking down three-pointers. Keller had 10 total points in the third and HWC held off a balanced Rocket attack which saw five players in the scoring column to lead 44-33 after three quarters.

NR-S made their move in the fourth quarter, as they continued their balanced attack with Cudworth, Peterson, Kennedy Demester and Kelsie Belquist scoring the first eight points of the quarter and narrowing the HWC lead to just 44-41. Keller's field goal at the 1:04 mark were the first Hornet points of the quarter and moved the lead to four. Two free throws from Peterson cut the lead to two once more.

Dockter missed the front end of a bonus free- throw, but a lane violation allowed her another attempt where the junior knocked down both free throws to move the lead back to four with 16 seconds remaining. Demester's three pointer with 5.3 seconds left cut the lead to just one point. Keller was fouled and made one free-throw, but the Rockets were unable to get a good look at a basket as time ran out with HWC on top, 49-47.

Keller led all players in the scorebook with 26 points, and the senior also grabbed 10 rebounds. Belquist scored 12, and was followed closely by Cudworth and Peterson with 10 each.

With the win, HWC improves to 3-8, while NR-S drops to 5-5 on the season.

District 7 Girls' Basketball

Nelson Co. 49, HWC 30

at McVille

HWC 7 2 9 12 30

NC 10 12 17 10 49

HWC: Kalyn Keller 10, Lexi Fike 9, Carsyn Ziegler 5, Larissa Arnold 4, Ella Monge 1, Rachel Neumiller 1.

Nelson Co.: Marit Ellingson 18, Krista Lippert 10, Nora Johnson 8, Hollie Emory 7, Syndee Johnston 4, Rylan Parsley 2.

HWC 49, NR-S 47

at Fessenden

NR-S 11 8 14 14 47

HWC 14 12 18 5 49

HWC: Keller 26, Emma Dockter 9, Ziegler 5, Arnold 4, Fike 3, Neumiller 2.

NR-S: Kelsie Belquist 12, Mya Cudworth 10, Ava Peterson 10, Kennedy Demester 9, Madisen Myhre 4, Kaiya O'Connor 2.