Kari Gibb/MDN South Prairie-Max juniors Skotti Beck (21) and Brianna Rose (32) defend against Valley City junior Skye Nielson (32) with Royals fans in the background during the first quarter of play of the upper bracket semi final game of the 2024-2025 NDHSAA Division A Girls Basketball Tournament on Friday, March 7, at the MSU Dome.

The semifinal games of the 2025 NDHSAA Division A Girls Basketball State Tournament were played at the MSU Dome Friday, March 7.

In the upper bracket, the second seeded Royals faced the third seeded Hi-Liners.

In the lower bracket, the top seeds from Devils Lake tackled the fifth seeds from Thompson in the later game.

Fans began arriving easily an hour before game time for the first matchup and the noise level was high with the energy for the entire evening.

The winners play today in the championship game at 5 p.m. while the third place contest will take place at 3 p.m. at the Dome as well.

No. 3 Valley City 60, No. 2 South Prairie-Max 59

The No. 3 seeding carried little meaning for the Hi-Liner girls. The fact that Valley City was ranked below South Prairie-Max only added fuel to their feisty play.

The first quarter of play was all about what team would establish the tempo and style of the game. Valley City had bigger post players and looked to establish the inside game with dominance.

The South Prairie-Max girls wanted to press on defense, out run and out shoot the Hi-Liners. For much of the first quarter, the tug leaned to Valley City. Yet, every time the Hi-Liners seemed to make headway, the Royals would steal a ball, force a turnover or make a 3-point shot to stay within a score of Valley City.

By the end of the first quarter of play, the Hi-Liner girls held the 16-15 lead.

The tug-of-war lasted nearly the entire second quarter of play. With the pesky nature of the Royals, South Prairie-Max had the 23-20 lead with 2:45 to play in the half.

Three Royals missed shots with three Hi-Liner made shots gave Valley City the 27-23 lead at the half.

The Hi-Liners out scored the Royals 16-15 in the first and 11-8 in the second despite South Prairie-Max shooting 37 shots compared to 19 shots by Valley City. The Hi-Liners had the edge in rebounding 24-19, in shooting 47-percent to 21-percent and in free throws 8-12 compared to 5-7 in the first half.

Despite the statistical advantage, Valley City led by only four points to start the third quarter of play.

South Prairie-Max started the third quarter more relaxed and setting the tempo for the contest. The fast paced began trading 3-point shots for 2-point shots to narrow the gap from four points to one. At the 5:52 mark, the Hi-Liners called timeout with a 33-32 lead.

After the timeout, the Hi-Liners rotated back to their inside game to slow the tempo and built the lead back to six points.

The Royals maintained their effort to set the tempo and the style of play- forcing turnovers and rebounding after shots for second attempts. The Hi-Liners kept after the inside game. The score went back and forth for the remainder of the third quarter.

Valley City took the 51-44 lead into the final quarter of play for a shot at the state title on the line.

With minutes to go, the shots were falling for Valley City and not for South Prairie-Max. Just 90 seconds into the fourth, the Hi-Liners had the 55-44 lead. At the 4:46 mark, that lead was down to 56-50 with the Royals closing the gap quickly. Valley City called a timeout to regroup.

The Royals had one too many missed shots, turnovers and mistakes in the final four minutes of play to keep chewing up the gap. The Hi-Liners kept at their inside game to hold the margin. With 2:28 to play, Valley City led 58-50, had free throws pending when they called timeout.

The game was out of reach for South Prairie-Max, or so it seemed. The Royals made three steals and closed the gap to 60-59 with 1.2 seconds to play when Valley City inbounded the ball and was called for back court giving the Royals one chance at a shot for the win.

It was not meant to be.

Valley City was led by Katie Burchill with 20 points and 12 rebounds in the win. Dakota Potratz added 15 points while Skye Nielson scored 13 points and had eight rebounds for the Hi-Liners. Valley City shot just over 52-percent from the field with 34 points in the paint and ten from second chance shots and led the rebounding battle 39-33 over the Royals.

South Prairie-Max was led by Rylee Routledge with 25 points and nine rebounds. Skotti Beck had eight points, Abby Mikkelson added seven while both Mya Gunvilei and Brianna Rose hit for six points each in the effort. The Royals shot just over 33-percent from the field- only 6-24 from long range for 25-percent.

The Royals will face the top seeds from Devils Lake for third place at 3 p.m. today while the Hi-Liners will play the Tommies for the Division A NDHSAA Girls Basketball State Championship today at 5 p.m. at the MSU Dome.

No. 5 Thompson 74, No. 1 Devils Lake 63

The fifth seeded Tommies upset Rugby in the quarterfinals and the top seeds from Devils Lake in the semifinals. Next on the list will be the third seeds from Valley City today. Both lower seeds took the wins in the semifinal games and will battle for the state title at the MSU Dome at 5 p.m. while the top two seeds- Devils Lake and South Prairie-Max- will play for third place at 3 p.m. today as well.