Mike Kraft/MDN Our Redeemer’s senior forward Hannah Conway goes up for a shot during the first half against Velva on Thursday, Jan. 22, at Our Redeemer’s Christian School.

The Our Redeemer’s girls basketball team would love nothing more than to finish with a top-four seed at the end of the District 6 schedule, giving the Knights the most optimal path to a berth in the Region 3 tournament and ultimately a trip to state.

That seemed like a mere pipe dream when the Knights opened the district portion of their schedule 0-3 and needed binoculars to see the top of the standings.

Now, the Knights control their own destiny as it relates to capturing the No. 4 seed after taking down Velva, 60-40, on Thursday, Jan. 22, for their fourth consecutive district victory. Our Redeemer’s sits one game in front of both TGU and Drake-Anamoose for the fourth spot with two district games remaining for all three teams. The Knights hold the tiebreaker with TGU, but the Raiders hold the tiebreaker over Our Redeemer’s.

“For the games we lost early in districts, this was a big win,” Our Redeemer’s coach Hart Andes said. “We’ve got two more big ones coming up against Glenburn and Surrey. If we win those, we lock down that four spot.”

The Knights (9-5 overall, 4-3 District 6) close out their district schedule next week with home contests against Glenburn on Monday, Jan. 26, and Surrey on Friday, Jan. 30.

The Aggies (1-14, 1-6) entered Thursday’s contest having earned their first win of the season less than a week earlier against Bishop Ryan and didn’t make things easy for the Knights. Velva scored the first six points and led throughout most of the opening quarter before Kadyn Braun gave the Knights their first lead of the night with her third bucket. Velva recaptured the lead before the conclusion of the period on a basket from Evalyn Selzer.

“It was a lot of hard work, good hustle and we wanted the ball and we went after it,” Velva coach Taylor Kirkhorn said. “Our confidence was up when we did that, too. We never gave up and there was a lot of good hustle.”

Braun fueled the Knights’ offense in the first half, responsible for 15 of the team’s 24 points through the opening 16 minutes. She beat the buzzer with one of her three 3s to give the Knights a 24-22 lead. Prior to Braun’s shot, the Aggies used an 8-2 run to reclaim the lead.

‘We’re kind of a tale of two teams,” Andes said. “We have a team that looks phenomenal and we have another team that’s not so much. In that first half, we were that team that doesn’t look as good, but second half we came out guns blazing and played really well. If we can put together two halves like that second half, we can beat anybody.”

Our Redeemer’s continued to rely on their top-two scoring weapons this season in Braun and Lauren Strom to distance themselves from the Aggies in the second half. The duo combined for 15 of the Knights’ 18 points in the third quarter. Strom netted nine of her 17 points in the stanza. Her final basket of the third quarter gave the Knights a nine-point lead at 35-26 with 3:03 to go.

“We talked about it at halftime that we needed to come out with energy that we wish we came out with in the first half and we had to maintain it until the end of the game,” Braun said. “Kadyn is so good at what she does. I did not finish the way I wanted to in the first half, so I just needed to have a reset at halftime and I told myself that I was going to finish my layups and I’m going to catch all the passes Kadyn gives me, get her those assists and get me those layups.”

Braun and Strom were two of just three scorers for the Knights through the first 22 minutes, but it was working out just fine.

“I just trust Lauren to give her the ball and I trust that she’s going to work hard underneath,” Braun said. “Whether it goes in or not, I’m going to feed it into her because she’s just a good player who works hard. I love playing with her and always have.”

Hazen Engelhard had the only other three points for Our Redeemer’s with the home team in front 37-31 before Ruby Olson drilled a 3-pointer to push the Knights’ lead back to nine with 1:40 left in the third. The Knights led 42-33 entering the fourth.

Other members of the Knights got involved on the scoring sheet in the final quarter, pushing the advantage to double figures for the first time all game. Olson, Londyn Lauf and Tessa Carlson contributed to the scoring down the stretch. Braun added her third 3 of the contest to finish with a game-high 24 points.

“I’ve been told growing up through multiple coaches that shooters shoot whether you’re off or on,” Braun said. “They are going to go in eventually. It’s just having confidence and my teammates having my back and cheering me on really helps, too.”

The Knights’ 60-point night was the second-most points they have scored in a game this season. They put up a season-high 73 points in a win against Westhope-Newburg on Jan. 8.

Selzer led the Aggies with 12 points, while Lohnes added nine.

Velva heads to Surrey for its next game on Monday, Jan. 26.