Berthold's Addison Neshem goes up for a layup against Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood's Aftan Johnson during a District 6 semifinal game at the Minot Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 13. Mike Kraft/MDN

It was Friday the 13th, but Berthold’s Addison Neshem experienced nothing but good fortune on the most unluckiest of dates on the calendar.

The junior guard poured in a game-high 28 points and eclipsed the 2,000-career point total in the process, as the Berthold girls basketball team overcame an 11-point deficit to advance past Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood, 66-49, in the District 6 semifinals on Friday, Feb. 13, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. The Bombers advanced to the district title game for the second consecutive season and also punched their ticket to the Region 3 Tournament.

Neshem – unbothered by any Friday the 13th superstition – said hitting a new career milestone was the product of a lot of hard work and dedication.

“It’s honestly a big accomplishment for myself,” Neshem said. “I put in a lot of work in the offseason to be where I am today and couldn’t have done it without believing in myself.”

No. 3 seed Berthold (17-4) will look to defend its district crown when it matches up with the winner of top-seeded Glenburn and No. 4 seed Our Redeemer’s on Saturday, Feb. 14. The Glenburn/Our Redeemer’s semifinal game ended after deadline.

There were several instances where it appeared that Berthold’s hopes of a district championship repeat were all but dashed. The second-seeded Mavericks (16-5) jumped out to a 20-9 lead early in the second quarter as the Ackerson sisters paced the offense in the first half, combining for 19 points in the opening 16 minutes.

Despite a rough shooting performance in the first half, Berthold climbed back into the game as Audra Deaver hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter, the second of which pulled the Bombers within 26-23 with 1:23 remaining. The Mavericks led 31-25 at halftime.

“They are extremely physical and that’s one thing we try to work on during the year,” Berthold coach Ken Keysor said. “They have the Varty girls, a couple rodeo girls, they have the Ackersons who grew up on a farm, and I’ve got nothing but beautiful things to say about them because they are a physical, hard-working and well-coached team.”

Neshem scored the final basket of the opening half, but her production was limited to just six points. That changed in the second half. Trailing 38-29 after two free throws from M-L-S’ Laney Varty, Neshem scored the game’s next eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers to get the Bombers to within a point of tying the game. A mini 5-0 run by the Mustangs pushed their lead back to six, but their offense went dormant from there.

Neshem scored seven more points by the end of the quarter. A 3-point play with 16.6 seconds left in the third quarter put the Bombers in front at 46-45 for the first time since halfway through the first quarter when they were leading 4-3. Neshem added a fastbreak layup off a steal before the final buzzer to give Berthold a 48-45 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“It’s been a total 100 percent pleasure getting to watch her play,” Keysor said of Neshem. “She’s probably one of our hardest workers at practice. She puts the time in to work on her craft. She’s nothing but a joy to coach and she just brings it every night.”

The Bombers limited the Mavericks to just four points in the final quarter, capping off a 28-4 run to end the game. After a slow start, Berthold’s Ella Brown found her shooting touch in the second half. She opened the fourth quarter with her team’s first seven points. Brown scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half.

“It felt really good for all of us to come back together,” Brown said. “This was a game we really wanted to win and really needed to win. It felt great to come together and get all of our shots to fall and get the win.”

Neshem added six more points in the fourth for her second-straight 28-point performance of the tournament.

Hattie Varty converted on back-to-back shots to pull M-L-S within 50-49, but the Mavericks went without a point the final second part of the final quarter.

“They hit some shots, but our effort dropped,” M-L-S coach Thurstan Johnson said. “They were getting more loose balls. They were more aggressive going for the ball in the second half. There were a lot of times where we saw the ball and thought someone else was going to grab it instead of attacking. That was the difference. They just wanted it more than we did.”

A night after knocking down 12 3s, the Bombers went the first 12 minutes without a basket from deep despite a multitude of attempts. Deaver ended the drought, recording the only two made 3s for the Bombers in the first half.

“Our shots just really didn’t fall in the first half and in the second half we came out with a different mindset that defensive intensity will help our offense flow better and get more open shots,” Neshem said.

The Bombers hit 5s in the second half and 14 shots overall. They made nine shots in the first half.

Shayne Simons scored 10 points to join Neshem and Brown in double figures.

Trapper Ackerson led the Mustangs with 14 points. Laney Varty and Archer Ackerson finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Mustangs play in a regional qualifier against Towner-Granville-Upham on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium.

TGU kept its season alive with a 69-50 victory over Velva in a loser-out contest. Boston Bailey knocked down 4 3s on her way to a 20-point night. Lillian Kuntz added 12 points.

Surrey is also still amongst one of the six teams left playing in the tournament. The Mustangs eliminated Drake-Anamose, 66-62, to advance to a regional qualifier against the loser of Glenburn and Our Redeemer’s.

Surrey jumped out to a 16-6 lead after the opening quarter, but the Raiders rallied to close the gap to 31-26 at halftime and 46-45 after three. But the Mustangs held on to get a chance at earning a bid to the regional tournament.

Emree Magnuson led the Mustangs with 22 points, scoring 10 in the fourth quarter. Ava Keller had 15 and Isabelle Meade had 13.

Quincy Bruner led the Raiders with 21 points. Mariah Mack and Shaylee Hase also finished in double figures with 19 and 14 respectively.