Minot High School girls basketball coach Todd Magnuson pinpointed several areas in which his team performed poorly during Friday night's game against Grand Forks Red River. Losing the rebounding battle, turning the ball over too many times and playing with low intensity were his primary gripes.
But even Magnuson admitted his team's maladies took a back seat to Red River's scorching shooting performance.
The Roughriders knocked down 11-of-21 3-pointers, including four by freshman Allison Hillebrand, en route to a 68-48 victory at Magic City Campus.
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Daniel Allar/MDN
Minot High School senior Loni Bryantt drives into the lane against Grand Forks Red River defenders Friday at Magic City Campus.
"That was a hot-shooting Red River team tonight," Magnuson said. "It was unbelievable."
The teams played closely for most of the first half and Minot tied the score at 19 on a Sophie Bengson baseline jumper with 5 minutes, 13 seconds remaining before intermission.
Then Hillebrand started her rampage, knocking down three triples in less than four minutes to key a 15-0 run. Red River (3-1) took a 34-21 lead into the break.
The Majettes (1-4) never got within single digits again, and the Roughriders stretched their lead to 20 about six minutes into the second half.
Red River coach Kent Ripplinger said it was easily the best shooting performance his team's had all season.
"That's pretty tough no matter what they're doing defensively if we're shooting that well," he said. "Credit the kids for getting off a long bus ride and coming here and knocking shots down."
Roughriders senior guard Allie Ripplinger, Kent's daughter, was dominant, knocking down 11-of-19 field goals on her way to a game-high 28 points. At one point late in the game, she scored on four consecutive possessions - drilling three straight pullup jumpers and dropping in a pair of free throws.
"Ripplinger is one of the best shooters I've seen in a long time," Magnuson said. "She was confident in her shot tonight. .. She was just hot. I thought at times we played pretty good defense on her, but she still got her shot off and there's not much you can really do when you got a hot shooter like that."
Junior Jayden Moum and senior Morgan Milbrath had 11 points apiece to pace Minot.
MHS was credited with 15 turnovers in the final statistics, but Magnuson estimated the total was "at least 25." Red River also outrebounded the Majettes 30-22.
"Give credit to Red River," Magnuson said. "We just came out a little flat tonight, and that's something we've gotta get back tomorrow."
Minot hosts Grand Forks Central at 6 tonight at Magic City Campus.