GRAND FORKS – Junior post Macey Kvilvang has been the catalyst for North Star’s basketball team all season.

That’s no secret.

“We don’t have anyone that size that we ever play against,” Fairmount-Campbell-Tintah coach Brenda Dahlgren said.

But for the first half of Thursday’s Class B quarterfinal at the Alerus Center, the Rebels kept North Star’s 6-foot-5 center at bay.

Kvilvang picked up her second foul early in the second quarter, and brought just two points to the locker room after 16 minutes.

At that point, something needed to change for top-seeded North Star.

“We just had to be more aggressive,” North Star coach Jill Vote said.

Led by Kvilvang, the Bearcats were in the second half.

Sparked by a 14-0 run to close out the third quarter, North Star secured a 37-28 win over unseeded F-C-T, which entered Thursday’s contest nearly four months removed from its last defeat. The Bearcats play Shiloh Christian in today’s second semifinal at 8:15 p.m.

Kvilvang was immense for the Bearcats, producing 10 of her 17 rebounds in the second half. She also racked up five blocks in the fourth quarter alone, and finished with 11 points.

“The first half was probably the most timid I’ve seen our offense all year, and that comes with playing in the first round of the state tournament,” Vote said. “I thought our heart came out in the second half. We really wanted it, and that’s what really pushed us through.”

The Rebels made a point of containing Kvilvang in the first half, and it showed.

North Star’s early lead climbed to as many as seven points early in the second quarter, but F-C-T kept it close at the break thanks to a personal 5-0 run from junior guard Harmony Burns. The Bearcats were limited to just five points in the second quarter, and led by one at halftime.

That’s when North Star woke up.

“We just needed to be stronger,” Kvilvang said.

On an 18-footer from junior forward Allison Grefsrud, F-C-T took its second lead of the game with 4:55 to play in the third quarter.

From there, the Bearcats stood firm.

The Rebels were kept off the board for the next 6 minutes, 16 seconds, as North Star built a double-digit lead during the same stretch.

Dribble-drive penetration is a big part of F-C-T’s game, Dahlgren said.

But with Kvilvang standing in the lane, the Rebels were “tentative.”

“We don’t usually average 30 points per game,” Dahlgren said. “We came out tentative, and I guess we’re not used to the big show, which may have had something to do with it. But at the end of the day, our guards are drivers, and they weren’t able to go in.”

Grefsrud paced the Rebels with 10 points on 4-of-18 shooting, followed by eight from 6-foot-3 post Madison Kaehler.

F-C-T converted 25 percent of its field-goal opportunities, and was limited to just four shots from the free-throw line.

The Bearcats finished just 13 of 37 from the field, but outrebounded the Rebels 30-19.

“Each game is going to be a grind, and that’s what we talked about,” Vote said. “It’s going to be a tough 32 minutes against whoever we play, and we just have to keep plugging away. Both teams are going to make runs, but hopefully we keep making the runs that matter most.”

Notes: Sophomore guard Stephanie Miller paced the Bearcats with 12 points on 3-of-10 shooting, and also added six rebounds and a steal. Senior forward Brenna Logie also added eight points for North Star. Thursday’s loss was just the second of the year for F-C-T, which suffered an overtime loss at Kindred on Dec. 7. The Rebels rode a 21-game winning streak into Thursday’s quarterfinal. F-C-T battles Region 6 champion Rugby in a consolation bout today at 2:45 p.m.

Joe Mellenbruch covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Mellenbruch_MDN.