The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The sign of maturity for an improving team is the ability to make the plays when the opponent, crowd and enormity of the plays down the stretch all conspire to make for a hard time.
Griggs/Midkota made the plays to be made in coming back from a 33-28 deficit headed into the fourth quarter, and quieted the Napoleon faithful with a 51-49 win over the N-G-S Imperials Thursday night, December 14.
In that period, the play of Kelsey Johnson and several others made all the difference. Johnson had 20 points, tops among all scorers, and had eight points, including a big three-pointer.
Kylie Johnson had 12 points of her own in the win, and Jessa Spickler's two buckets in the fourth helped her finish with eight for the contest.
Imperials junior Jada Schwartzenberger had 18 points in the tough-luck loss. Ali Gross finished with 14 for N-G-S, and senior center Teagan Erbele had 11 points.
The Imperials fell to 1-4 with the loss, while G-M took their fourth win in six games.
On Monday in Cooperstown, Maple River came to town, and dealt the Titans a humbling loss, 49-35.
The Raiders are a young, promising team with good height inside, led by 6'0" junior center Adyson Hannig's 14 points. BriElle Killoran, at 5'10" and another junior, matched her teammate's output with 14 of her own, and eighth grade guard Violet Richman made quite an impression on the contest's outcome with 10 points.
Spickler led the Titans (4-3 overall) with 10 points, followed by eight from Vanessa Vollmer. Maple River boosted their record to 7-3 with the win.
G-M had one final game before Christmas, a nonconference matchup with Midway/Minto on December 22. They resume play after the New Year on Tuesday, January 2, when they host Nelson County in their District 4 opener and go to Steele that upcoming Thursday to face Kidder County.
Nondistrict Girls' Basketball
Griggs/Midkota 51,
Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter 49
at Napoleon
G-M 11 6 11 23 51
N-G-S 12 9 12 16 49
G-M: Kelsey Johnson 20, Kylie Johnson 12, Jessa Spickler 8, Ryan Johnson 4, Vanessa Vollmer 3, Ruth Haugen 2, Kennedy Reidman 2. Totals: 23 FG, 3-5 FT, 17 fouls. Three-pointers: Kelsey Johnson 2.
N-G-S: Jada Schwartzenberger 18, Ali Gross 14, Teagan Erbele 11, Dawson Erbele 6. Totals: 19 FG, 10 FT, 5 fouls. Three-pointer: Schwartz-enberger.
Maple River 49,
Griggs/Midkota 35
at Cooperstown
MR 16 13 13 7 49
G-M 8 10 4 13 35
G-M: Spickler 10, Vollmer 8, Kelsey Johnson 6, Haugen 4, R. Johnson 4, Kylie Johnson 3. Totals: 14 FG, 5-10 FT, 14 fouls. Three-pointers: None.
Maple River: Adyson Hannig 14, BriElle Killoran 14, Violet Richman 10, Carly Hovelson 4, Claire Ihry 4, Kiana Lerud 2, Aliyah Hannig 1. Totals: 19 FG, 7-13 FT, 14 fouls. Three-pointer: Killoran.