Berthold's Addison Neshem drives to the basket past Surrey's Laney Will during a District 6 Tournament quarterfinal game at the Minot Municipal Auditorium on Thursday, Feb. 12. Mike Kraft/MDN

The Minot Municipal Auditorium can be an intimidating gymnasium to play in for teams that aren’t accustomed to playing on larger courts with no backdrops behind the baskets.

Fortunately for the Berthold girls basketball team, they have a gym that fits that mold that allows them to simulate the District 6 Tournament venue each and every practice. And it paid off for the Bombers in their quarterfinal matchup with Surrey.

The third-seeded Bombers knocked down 12 3-pointers and used a late run to close out the first half en route to a 69-59 victory over the sixth-seeded Mustangs on Thursday, Feb. 12, to advance to the district semifinals against Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood.

“We practiced it at practice yesterday and shot on our side hoops with no background with our bleachers back and I think that helped us prepare for that moment,” Berthold junior Addison Neshem said.

Neshem was one of five Bombers to hit a shot from behind the 3-point line. She knocked down three 3s and finished with a game-high 28 points. Ella Brown also hit a trio of 3s – all in the first half – as part of a 13-point performance. Shayne Simons, Audra Deaver and Lily Schepp also contributed to the 3-point barrage.

“We’ve always kind of been a 3-point shooting team and being confident from outside really helps us,” Brown said.

The teams played each other to a near stalemate in the first, third and fourth quarters, but it was the final few minutes of the second quarter that proved to be the difference. Through the first 12 minutes, there were five ties and four lead changes.

A basket by Ava Keller pulled the Mustangs (8-12) within 31-30 before the Bombers closed out the first half on a 13-4 run to take a 44-34 advantage into the locker room. It began with a 3-pointer from Schepp followed by an old-fashioned 3-point play from Neshem. Brown drilled a 3 and added a basket in close to give the Bombers a double-digit lead for the first time in the game. Neshem closed out the run with her seventh field goal of the half. She had 18 in the opening 16 minutes.

“That was pretty big,” Brown said. “We caught ourselves not playing the way we normally play. Making that run really helped us get up and get more confidence and end with a win.”

The Mustangs attempted to limit Neshem’s production, implementing a box and 1 on her. But the 3-point efficiency from her surrounding cast forced Surrey to change its strategy.

“Defensively, we tried to man up on Neshem,” Surrey coach Ron Aberle said. “We tried a box and 1 and just tried to contain her somewhat. That’s one thing when we went to the box and 1 that we were afraid that the other kids would get hot and that’s what happened. We had to go out of the box and 1 and back to a man-to-man.”

A pair of eighth-graders helped steer the offense for the Mustangs. Emree Magnuson and Isabel Meade each finished with a team-high 18 points. Magnuson was a dual threat from the inside and outside, knocking down three 3s in the first half and hitting seven total field goals. Meade connected on two 3s and made five other shots from the inside.

“I thought we played great offensively,” Aberle said. “We had a couple of eighth graders that really stepped it up, each scored 18 points. Offensively, we pretty much did what we wanted.”

The Bombers maintained their double-digit lead throughout most of the second half. The Mustangs got as close as nine points late in the third quarter, but Berthold ballooned its lead to as many as 16 in the fourth.

“It’s a situation where our girls did a wonderful job of picking up the defense,” Berthold coach Ken Keysor said. “Sometimes this team coaches themselves.”

The Bombers (15-5) entered the district tournament in a little bit of a different situation as the year prior when they were the top seed and had cruised through the district schedule. This year, the tournament field is much more wide open with the Bombers having dropped close contests with Glenburn and M-L-S, which represent the top two seeds this year.

“Four of our losses have come by a total of eight points,” Keysor said. “We’re kind of right there and it’s just a matter of a shot here or a rebound there. All those things come into play, especially this time of year. We just have to make sure we close out.”

Thursday’s contest with the Mustangs proved to be more competitive than when the two teams met during the regular season, where the Bombers came away with a decisive 61-35 victory. But they didn’t enter the game thinking a win was a given.

“You just stay humble,” Neshem said. “You never know when teams can come out and play. We’re all here to win and it’s a competitive game and you come out and try your best. ‘

Simons and Schepp each finished with 10 points to give the Bombers four double-figure scorers.

Keller added 16 for the Mustangs.

Despite dropping their quarterfinal contest, the Mustangs aren’t in panic mode. Last year, Surrey found itself in the same situation, but ended up winning its final two games and advancing to the region tournament. The Mustangs play Drake-Anamoose in an elimination game on Friday, Feb. 13, at 3 p.m.

“We have to play three nights and we have to play Drake-Anamoose and they played well,” Aberle said. “They’ve been playing well. We did beat them early on in the year, but we just have to come ready to play three nights in a row and it’s physical and tough on the kids, but that’s what you’ve got to do.”

Mavericks, Panthers notch quarterfinal victories

Drake-Anamoose gave Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood all it could handle during their quarterfinal matchup, but the Mavericks eventually managed to pull away in the fourth quarter in a 60-42 victory over the Raiders to advance to the District 6 semifinals.

The Mavericks limited the Raiders to seven points in the fourth quarter to help them avoid the upset. Hattie Varty led M-L-S with 25 points, netting 15 in the second half. She was the only M-L-S player to finish in double figures.

“Hattie’s been one of our go-to players all year,” M-L-S coach Thurstan Johnson said. “She’s our leading scorer and is capable of getting hot for us at the right time. She did a nice job of finishing in the second half.”

Drake-Anamoose stuck with the second-seeded Mavericks after needing a second-half comeback against Bishop Ryan in its play-in game two days earlier. The Mavericks led by just five points at the end of both the first and second quarters, taking a 29-24 lead into halftime.

“They always play us tough,” Johnson said. “We’ve had some good battles with them the past couple of years. We knew going in that it was going to be a dog fight. They really took it to us in the first half. At halftime, we talked about being more aggressive, rebounding better, getting after some loose balls. I thought we did a lot better of a job of that in the second half.”

M-L-S grew its lead to 46-35 at the end of the third before clamping down defensively to set up a matchup with Berthold on Friday, Feb. 13.

Quincy Bruner led the Raiders with 14 points and Shaylee Hase (12) and Mariah Mack (10) also finished in double figures.

The Raiders will play Surrey in an elimination game.

The top-seeded Panthers also punched their ticket to Friday’s semifinal, where they will play the winner of Our Redeemer’s and TGU, which ended after deadline.

Emma Jones, who recently eclipsed 2,000 points for her career – poured in a game-high 20 points and Aubree Quick and Mila Jones had 18 and 10 points, respectively. Quick netted 14 of her points in the opening quarter.

“Emma’s been playing a long time and Aubree they all put in a lot of minutes and a lot of these girls have been playing now since December and have had a lot of reps now,” Glenburn coach Jordan Pederson said. “They’re getting to know each other pretty well.”

Leading 20-17 at the end of the first quarter, the Panthers outscored the Aggies 16-3 in the second quarter to build a 36-20 lead at halftime. Marlee Kittleson’s 3-pointer was all the offense the Aggies could muster in the second quarter, while the Jones duo combined for all but one of their team’s points in the frame.

“I thought we came out a little flat,” Pederson said. “We weren’t quite locked in the way we should have been, but they grinded through that portion and were able to get on track and get some good runs and get back on pace. Everybody’s throwing their best game plan at you and they make it difficult. It’s a matter of being able to play all 32 minutes and push through that and learn and make adjustments.”

Velva was unable to make up any ground in the second half and will play in an elimination game against the loser of Our Redeemer’s and TGU as a result.

Evelyn Selzler finished with a team-high 13 points for Velva. Anna Harden added 10.