Mike Kraft/MDN Minot High’s Sisi Stevick protects the ball from Minot North’s Kinzy Welstad while driving to the lane during a WDA contest at Minot North High School on Friday, Jan. 9.

For 363 days out of the year – 364 days on leap years – members of the Minot High and Minot North girls basketball teams can be seen hanging out with one another and enjoying each other’s company.

They are friends. It’s a common sight to see Minot High’s Leelee Bell and Minot North’s Elli Laskowski sharing the court together in the evening working to improve their respective games.

But those two days a year during the regular season when Minot High and Minot North draw each other on the schedule, those friendships become rivalries and members of the Majettes aren’t interested in giving up its spot on the Magic City mountaintop to the Sentinels any time soon.

Minot High had its second largest scoring output of the season, using a pair of large runs to open each half to knock off the crosstown rival Sentinels, 91-63, in a WDA contest on Friday, Jan. 9. The Majettes have won all three matchups with Minot North in their short rivalry.

“That’s probably one of the better games we’ve seen North play,” Minot High coach Jason Schwarz said. “We’ve seen most if not all of their games on film. We know that every night we’re going to step out onto the court and teams are going to do anything they can to bring their ‘A’ game. That’s something we want to do, too. It’s no different for us. Every single night we want to bring our best basketball and we’re expecting the other team does too.”

The Majettes (9-0 overall, 5-0 WDA) brought their “A’ game right off the opening tip. Minot High jumped out to an 11-0 lead just over three minutes into the contest to establish momentum and take the wind out of North’s sails. Bell had six points during the opening run and Kinley Bartsch knocked down one of her two 3s on the night.

“The most important thing is it gets our confidence up,” Schwarz said. “We want to start every game, every half playing fast and getting out and running and that contributed a lot to getting some easy baskets. We were able to get out in transition and get some layups and get some open 3s. Finding ways to get easy baskets kind of gets you going a little bit and that’s what we’re trying to do when we start a half.”

Laskowski got the Sentinels (3-5, 1-4) on the board with 14:35 remaining in the opening half to end the scoring drought. Laskowski was a game-time decision with an elbow injury she sustained during the first half against Mandan a week ago. She sat out the remainder of the game against the Braves and missed the following game at Bismarck Century as Minot North suffered a 78-38 defeat.

She made her return Friday with her elbow heavily wrapped, but was her typical scoring self after an initial air ball on her first attempt. Laskowski knocked down a pair of 3s in the first half and had 14 points at the break. She finished with 22. Laskowski entered the game leading the WDA in scoring at 28.2 points per game.

The Sentinels didn’t lay down after a rough start. While they never were able to chip away at Minot High’s lead, trailing by double digits for the final 32 minutes, Minot North also didn’t let the Majettes put them any further in their rearview mirror throughout most of the first half. Minot High led by as many as 21 points in the first half, but the Sentinels whittled it down to 45-28 by halftime.

“They are the No. 1 team in the state for a reason,” Minot North coach Justin Lauf said. “They have some pretty good basketball players over there. But I thought we did a decent job of hanging tough. We knew it was going to be tough the way it was, but we battled.”

The second half didn’t start with another Minot High 11-0 run, but it did have the similar offensive flow to it for the Majettes. They scored 14 of the first 21 points to grab a 59-35 advantage with 13:37 left. Five different Majettes scored during the opening run, which was a theme all night.

Minot High had nine different players register points and four finished in double figures. Bell led the way with 28, followed by Maggie Fricke with 19, and Bartsch and Sisi Stevick each with 14. It was a career high for Stevick.

“We moved really well,” Stevick said. “We just communicated really well, made good passes and played really smart.”

While Stevick’s name doesn’t echo throughout the state like Bell’s and Fricke’s do, Schwarz knows she has just as much talent as anyone on the roster.

“Sisi is an incredible athlete,” Schwarz said. “She’s so fast, she’s so athletic. I’ve really been pushing her lately to use that athleticism to her advantage. Sometimes I don’t think she realizes how fast and athletic she is and she’s figuring things out a little bit more each week and it’s starting to show. She can go out and make plays defensively and get out in transition because she’s so fast. She can crash the boards with that athleticism. She’s good at taking the ball to the basket and she can shoot. There’s various ways to score and she’s showing all of them.”

Despite taking another body blow to start a half, the Sentinels didn’t quit. Kinzy Welstad led a solo 8-0 run to pull her team back to within 16 at 59-43. Welstad led Minot North with 24 points, taking over in the second half with 14 points and three 3-pointers.

“She’s locked in,” Lauf said. “That kid battles hard every time. She always does everything. She’s a great leader, a great influence and a great person to have around the young team to hopefully lead for the future.”

At that point, Bell had had enough of her crosstown rivals and made sure to put the game out of reach for good. She single-handedly outscored the Sentinels 11-1 for a stretch to build a 70-44 with 8:16 left.

“We could tell that they were getting in their groove, so if I came out and got them out of their groove and got my teammates involved that they would slowly get out of their groove,” Bell said.

The Majettes continued to build upon their lead with Fricke, Stevick and Mackenzie Bachmeier leading the offense down the stretch.

Like Laskowski, Fricke is also in the process of returning from an injury. Fricke made her third appearance in the lineup this season after losing the majority of last season to a knee injury. She missed the month of December before being medically cleared in January. She made her season debut against Williston on Jan. 2, scoring 15 points.

“It’s definitely a little different coming back from an injury,” Fricke said. “I’m learning to adjust to the game and it’s a process trying to feel it out, getting my body back into shape, back into speed and agility, but I’ve been really excited and every game I can see progress and it might be a little harder at times, but just pushing through.”

Fricke is currently coming off the bench, allowing her to get a fresh perspective on the game and of the opposition, something she couldn’t do as a starter last year.

“You get to see a different perspective on the bench, so coming out and providing some juice when maybe the other team is a little tired and just seeing how well our starters are doing and just for me to carry that on and help that,” Fricke said.

Minot High’s 91 points was its most scored in a WDA contest and the second-most points scored this season. The Majettes put up 94 in their season opener against West Fargo.

Minot High has now won 15 straight region games. The Majettes last dropped a WDA contest on Jan. 21, 2025 in a 53-51 setback to Mandan. Minot High is one of three teams still unbeaten in region play.

Both teams are back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 13. Minot High hosts Dickinson and Minot North travels to play Bismarck St. Mary’s. Both games tip at 6 p.m.