Kari Gibb/MDN South Prairie-Max Royal Skotti Beck (21) guards TMCHS Brave Aubree Jeanotte (15) in first quarter action of the 2024 NDHSAA Girls Basketball State Tournament at the MSU Dome on Thursday, March 6.

The South Prairie-Max girls took care of business in the first quarterfinal game of the 2025 NDHSAA Division A Girls Basketball State Tournament and will face the Valley City girls in the upper bracket semi final game at 6:30 p.m. today.

The Turtle Mountain Community High School girls will face the Carrington girls in the first consolidation bracket game today at 1:00 p.m.

No. 2 South Prairie-Max 70, No. 7 TMCHS 45

The first quarterfinal game of the state tournament was between familiar foes from Region 3 with the No. 2 Royals girls taking on the No. 7 Braves. The tip and first basket were turned in by South Prairie-Max (SPM) only to see Turtle Mountain Community High School (TMCHS) go on a 6-0 run.

The Royals patiently played their game and fought back to take a 12-11 lead with under 30-seconds to play in the first. With a last second 3-pointer, SPM held a 15-11 lead going into the second quarter of play.

The momentum nabbed by the Royals led to a 6-0 run before the Braves girls responded and narrowed the gap to 21-19 for SPM prompting a timeout by the Royals.

The rest of the second quarter was spent in a tug of war for the tempo and advantage. With less than two minutes to play in the half, SPM added to their lead with a 25-19 score for the halftime break.

The Royals shot just under 48-percent from the field in the first half while the Braves hit just under 30-percent but outrebounded SPM 19-14 for more shooting opportunities.

The Royals exploded into the third quarter with 3-point shooting and established their tempo. Within 90-seconds of play, SPM had the 31-19 lead forcing a TMCHS timeout.

The Royals came out of the timeout and applied a half court zone press to cause turnovers by the Braves. TMCHS found themselves in foul trouble with 3:59 to play in the quarter. By the end of the third the Royals girls held a 53-26 lead with the final eight minutes to play.

Skotti Beck and Abby Mikkleson each led SPM with 12 points apiece while Mya Gunville and Rylee Routledge each added ten in the win. Azjiah Trader posted eight points and Marcie Talbott added six for the Royals.

The Braves were led by Akealyes Azure with 14 points while Aubree Jeanotte posted nine in the game for TMCHS.

The Braves girls led in rebounding 30-27 while the Royals girls shot just under 62-percent from the field with 4-of-9 from the arc and 14-for-17 from the charity stripe.

No. 3 Valley City 45, No. 6 Carrington 42

In the second quarterfinal game of the upper bracket to play, No. 3 Valley City faced No. 6 Carrington to move into the semifinal match with South Prairie-Max.

The taller Valley City girls controlled the tip, missed the shot and allowed the Carrington girls to score the first basket of game two at the Division A Girls Basketball State Tournament at the MSU Dome on Thursday, March 6.

The Cardinals from Carrington worked the paint well with rebounding and second chance points for the first half of the first quarter. Valley City suffered shooting jitters to start the game while Carrington worked the inside-outside game to a 15-8 lead to start the second quarter of play.

Valley City began the second quarter with three quick fouls in the first two minutes of play. The Cardinals girls worked the rebounding game in addition to shooting free throws. Valley City missed shots combined with Carrington rebounding kept the Cardinals girls up 19-8 with 4:14 left in the second.

Valley City worked hard to close the gap, only to chase Carrington for the rest of the first half of play. The Cardinals led 24-18 at the half.

The second half of play was nearly exactly opposite as the first half with Valley City out rebounding Carrington as both teams ended with 42 rebounds in the game.

In the third quarter of play, the Hi-Liners out scored the Cardinals 15-7 and in the fourth quarter of play 12-11 for the 45-42 win.

The biggest statistical advantage of the game for Valley City was scoring in the paint – 34 points for the Hi-Liners compared to 14 for the Cardinals. That stat line in the first half of play was 14-12 for Valley City.

Katie Burchill led Valley City with 24 points and 14 rebounds in the win. Skye Nielson added 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Hi-Liners.

Carrington was led by Edyn Hoornaert with ten points while Mariah Johnson and Maara Kuntz each added nine points in the effort. Kuntz also recorded 12 rebounds for the Cardinals.