Mike Kraft/MDN Glenburn senior Emma Jones drives to the basket in front of Ruby Olson (2), Hannah Conway (23) and Lauren Strom during the second half of a District 6 basketball game on Monday, Jan. 26, at Our Redeemer’s Christian School.

It has been quite the year so far for girls athletics at Glenburn High School, ascending to heights rarely seen in the school’s history.

It began in the fall with the volleyball program, winning both its first district regular season title and its first district tournament championship.

Now, it’s the basketball team’s moment to shine after clinching the District 6 regular season title with a 60-48 victory over Our Redeemer’s on Monday, Jan. 26, turning around a program that won all of five games just two seasons ago.

“That was the goal to come in as the No. 1 seed, so this one was kind of important tonight,” Glenburn coach Jordan Peterson said. “It was fun to put it away and seal that up.”

At the forefront of both programs’ turnarounds has been senior Emma Jones, who played a pivotal role in Monday’s victory to claim the No. 1 seed in the upcoming district tournament. The 6-foot senior poured in a game-high 26 points as the Panthers halted the Knights’ four-game district winning streak.

“It feels good knowing I can do my part in contributing to all of our success that we’ve had so far this year and we hope we can keep doing it,” Jones said. “Peterson and (assistant coach) Callie (Stevens) have helped shape this for as long as I’ve been here and longer. They’ve always had faith in all of us and keep putting us in the right spots to keep pushing us forward.”

Glenburn (14-2 overall, 8-0 District 6) remained undefeated in district play with one contest left on the schedule against Bishop Ryan. They are also unbeaten against Class B opponents. Its only two losses this season have come against Class A programs Rugby and South Prairie-Max. The Panthers have won seven of their eight district matchups by 12 points or more.

The Panthers led throughout the majority of the game, but it took until the fourth quarter for them to finally shake off the Knights for good. Glenburn got off to fast starts in each of the final three quarters, forcing Our Redeemer’s to play catch-up. Leading 15-13 at the end of the first quarter, the Panthers opened the second on a 9-0 run. Ryleigh Miller drained a 3-pointer, Aubrie Quick knocked down a pair of free throws and Jones connected on a pair of jumpers.

The Knights went the first 3:30 of the quarter without a point until Tessa Carlson ended the drought with two of her seven points in the game. Ava Stevens connected on the first of two of her 3s to push Glenburn’s advantage to 29-18, but the Knights closed the half on an 11-2 run to get within three at the break. Kadyn Braun scored five consecutive points and Carlson’s layup beat the buzzer to give the Knights what they hoped was some momentum heading into the second half.

That didn’t turn out to be the case, as Jones took over in the third quarter, scoring 11 of her team’s 14 points.

“We had so much momentum going in,” Our Redeemer’s coach Hart Andes said. “We had a couple steals for layups, but we came out flat in the third quarter and made a couple turnovers and just missed some shots.”

Jones opened the second half with her only 3-pointer of the contest, fueling a 10-2 run to push Glenburn’s lead back to double figures at 42-31 with 4:31 left in the quarter.

“I just started to cut to the basket,” Jones said. “Peterson kept telling me to start moving around more and not stand around at the top of the key and that kind of helped it click that I needed to keep moving.”

Andes knew that once Jones got going, it was going to be hard to contain her.

“When she touches the ball, she’s a great player,” Andes said. “Minot State is getting a very well-rounded, athletic player. She’s really talented. When she gets the ball down low, we send three or four girls at her and when she gets the ball up top we try to close her out so she can’t drive in. For the most part, we did a good job on it, but there were times where she got some offensive rebounds and got some easy ones back up.”

The Knights (9-6, 4-4) again made a run, taking advantage of turnovers to use a 9-2 run to cut the deficit down to four. The Panthers entered the fourth quarter with a 46-40 lead.

It didn’t take long before the Panthers found themselves back up by double digits. They opened the final frame scoring 10 of the first 12 points, grabbing their biggest lead of the contest at 56-42. Emma Jones, Mila Jones, Miller and Quick all contributed to the run, which Our Redeemer’s had no counter for. The Knights wouldn’t get within 10 the rest of the way, scoring just eight points in the fourth quarter.

“We were scrappy,” Peterson said. “We battled well through some things that were just kind of ugly basketball. We turned it over a bunch, but they played hard enough and wanted it.

Lauren Strom was Our Redeemer’s primary source of offense in the first half, scoring 12 points over the first 16 minutes. But Glenburn adjusted in the second half and limited her to just two points in the second half, both coming from the free-throw line.

Mila Jones finished with 12 points to join her older sister in double figures. Miller added nine.

Braun and Strom both finished with 14 points.

Despite the loss, the Knights still just need a win in their district finale against Surrey to lock up the No. 4 seed. They do not require any outside help. Our Redeemer’s host the Mustangs on Friday, Jan. 30.