Al Christianson/Special to the MDN DLB’s Shelby Ruden (4) fires away from deep during the Lakers’ 41-31 win over Surrey Thursday in the opening round of the District 12 girls basketball tournament at the Minot Municipal Auditorium.

Surrey came to play. But, fortunately for the Des Lacs-Burlington girls basketball team, so did Shelby Ruden.

No. 2 DLB had its hands full in the first half of its matchup with No. 7 Surrey on Thursday in the opening round of the District 12 Tournament. The Mustangs played like anything but a seven seed as they fought tooth and nail with the Lakers to force a nine-point stalemate at the end of the first quarter.

But DLB eventually created separation from the resilient Mustangs thanks to some lockdown defense and a much-needed scoring boost from Ruden to claim a 41-31 win.

“We started slow, a little bit,” DLB head coach Tracy Bonn said. “One of my biggest fears is always getting complacent this time of the year, but the girls responded beautifully. They did such a good job.”

After each team scored nine points in the first quarter, it was DLB who kept its foot on the gas in the following frame.

Ruden led the charge. Up 11-9, the sophomore forward showed off a sweet mid-range game with a pair of jumpers and extended her range for a triple in what was a personal 7-0 run to push the Lakers’ lead to 18-9.

“We just knew that we had to come out strong (in the second quarter),” Ruden said. “Our team did a very good job of moving the ball around. I just didn’t think about it (when shooting). I just went in the motion and did it.”

With Ruden providing the offense, the rest of the Lakers placed an emphasis on the other end of the court. After running a 2-3 zone in the first quarter with little success, DLB switched to a man-to-man defense that yielded much better results.

The Lakers stopped Surrey’s offense in its tracks and shut out the Mustangs in the second quarter to take a comfortable 20-9 lead at halftime.

“(The defensive change) really fired the girls up,” Bonn said. “That second quarter was probably the most complete quarter we’ve put together all season. I was really impressed with the ball movement. We were just a team, a great team.”

Even the halftime break couldn’t cool down Ruden as the 5-foot-7 sharpshooter kicked off the third quarter with her second triple of the contest.

Her teammates followed suit as fellow sophomores Ava Wille and Brooklyn Benno each sank three-pointers of their own in the quarter to build DLB’s lead to 34-21 entering the final frame.

The Mustangs went down swinging in the fourth quarter, as Surrey’s Cody Fuchs trimmed the Laker lead to eight, 37-29, by banking in a shot down low with two minutes remaining.

Ruden fittingly delivered the dagger on the following play by sinking her third mid-range jumper of the day to push her team’s lead back up to double digits.

Time ran out on Mustangs’ comeback efforts as DLB kept its cool down the stretch and secured the 41-31 victory.

“Surrey has always been that team where you just never know,” Bonn said. “They are dangerous, they play hard and they’re very well coached. Being able to withstand that and finish the game strong will send us into the next round really well.”

Fuchs finished with a team-high nine points for Surrey, while Ruden and Benno each finished with a game-high 12 points for DLB.

Surrey will play No. 6 Our Redeemer’s today at 4:30 p.m. in a loser-out match, while DLB advances to the semifinals to take on No. 3 Bishop Ryan at 7:30 p.m.

Justin Martinez covers Minot High School sports and Class B high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @JTheSportsDude.