Drake-Anamoose's Quincy Bruner goes up for a layup during a District 6 Tournament play-in game against Bishop Ryan on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. Mike Kraft/MDN

Since the introduction of the three-class system three years ago, the Drake-Anamoose girls basketball team hadn’t been invited to participate in the party that is the District 6 Tournament.

The Raiders had been knocked out in the play-in round each of the first two seasons, last year coming at the hands of Bishop Ryan, their opponent once again Tuesday night. This season, Drake-Anamoose at long last earned its invitation to the party, rallying to a 40-35 victory over the Lions at the Minot Municipal Auditorium on Feb. 10.

“Since they did this three-class system, we’ve lost in the play-in every time,” Drake-Anamoose coach Brian Hauff said. “Our goal coming in was to play in the actual district tournament instead of the play-in game. If you were to hear how excited the girls were when they came off the court, they were cheering. It means a lot to us to be playing in the district tournament.”

Drake-Anamoose – the No. 7 seed – advances to play second-seeded Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 3 p.m. at the Minot Municipal Auditorium.

“Last year, we didn’t make it, so I’m really happy we made it this year and I hope we can make a good run,” Drake-Anamoose senior guard Quincy Bruner said.

The Raiders (8-12) snapped a five-game postseason losing streak dating back to 2021-22. Their last district tournament victory came in a loser-out contest against Velva in overtime that year. Velva eliminated the Raiders in the play-in game of the district tournament in the first year of the three-class system.

Drake-Anamoose had to sweat it out until the literal last second, as they watched a potential game-tying 3-pointer from Bishop Ryan’s Haylee Schwan come up short. Trailing 38-35 with 6.4 seconds left, the Lions called a timeout to draw up a final play hoping to force overtime. Schwan got a good look, but Drake-Anamoose’s Mariah Mack grabbed the rebound off the miss and drew a foul with .1 left on the clock. Mack knocked down both free throws for good measure to finish with 15 points.

“It feels really nice that we can come together as a team,” Mack said. “This is what we worked for all year so it feels nice to get out of the play-in and make it to the districts.”

The Raiders found themselves trailing 25-21 entering the fourth quarter and staring a potential third straight play-in loss in the face. But Drake-Anamoose opened the final frame scoring the first seven points and kept the Lions off the scoreboard for the beginning 4:30. A basket from Olivia Fahy gave the Raiders a 28-25 lead, but Bishop Ryan responded with a 3-pointer from Taylor Brintnell to tie the game.

Mack and Bruner had a counter for every Bishop Ryan basket in the fourth. Mack reclaimed the lead for the Raiders moments after Brintnell’s 3 and Bruner delivered the team’s only 3-pointer of the night later for a 35-30 edge with 1:50 to go.

The Raiders struggled all night shooting from the outside. All but three of Drake-Anamoose’s points either came inside the paint or at the free-throw line. The Raiders were 13-24 from the free-throw line, with Mack and Bruner responsible for 11 made attempts. Bruner led the Raiders with 19 points. Her and Mack accounted for all but six of their team’s points.

“We just took a deep breath and relied on our defense and then we started scoring points,” Bruner said.

Neither team made a shot from distance in the opening half, combining for just eight field goals as the Raiders held a slim 13-12 lead. The Lions found their scoring touch from range in the third, notably from Schwan. The senior knocked down three 3s in the third quarter, helping Bishop Ryan take its largest lead of the game at 23-17 late in the third quarter. Schwan went scoreless in the opening half, but poured in 15 in the second to lead Bishop Ryan.

“She played really well,” Bishop Ryan coach Cole Edwards said. “She led not only by example, being able to get downhill and knock down open shots, but also was a really strong voice for us during timeouts and I couldn’t ask for more from her in her last game.”

The Lions (1-18) took advantage of Mack’s foul trouble in the third quarter. Mack was whistled for her third foul with 4:15 left in the period with the Raiders trailing 17-15. She sat out the remainder of the quarter and the Raiders scored just six points in her absence. The Lions led the entire time Mack was on the bench.

“We were in trouble when she got into foul trouble and had to miss most of the third quarter. It was a noticeable difference,” Hauff said. “Once she came back in during the fourth quarter, our strategy was to get it into 23 and let her go to work and she did. She made some big baskets there in the end to really put us over the top.”

Mack scored nine points in the final quarter, all coming in the final 3:19.

“I came out in the fourth quarter and I gathered everyone and told them that we’ve got this and we need to have confidence and that I have confidence in every single one of them,” Mack said.

Neither team had much success on the offensive side in the opening 16 minutes of play. The Raiders led 7-2 after one quarter and hit just one shot in the second. Bruner and Mack were the only two scorers for the Raiders in the opening half.

“They fought hard,” Hauff said. “It was ugly at times, but they stayed together as a team. You could see they were encouraging each other and had the confidence and just kept fighting. The shots weren’t falling, but they kept fighting.”

While it didn’t result in a victory and an extension of the season, it was one of the closest contests the Lions have played this year. It was just their third game decided by single digits, one of which resulted in their lone win of the season against Westhope-Newburg. Tuesday’s game was also tied for their second-highest scoring output on the year. Edwards is hoping that will carry into next season.

“You hope it motivates them to get better in the offseason individually and then to have something to wear on your sleeve, a chip on your shoulder next year knowing you were close to punching your ticket to the district tournament, but came up just a little bit short,” Edwards said.

Velva 60, Westhope-Newburg 50

Westhope-Newburg got the better of Velva during the regular season, but the Aggies won the matchup that had the biggest stakes attached to them.

Evalyn Selzler netted a team-high 16 points and Anna Harden also finished in double figures as the Aggies advanced out of the play-in round in a 60-50 victory over Westhope-Newburg on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. Velva will play top-seeded Glenburn in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, Feb. 12, at approximately 6 p.m.

Despite being the No. 9 seed and having already lost to the Sioux during the regular season by 17 points at home, the Aggies (3-17) didn’t feel like much of an underdog.

“I felt like we came into the game thinking we were even,” Velva coach Taylor Kirkhorn said. “All new playing field, new spot, new part of the season. So we didn’t come in thinking we were an underdog. We came in thinking we were even.”

It was the third straight season the Aggies had found themselves in the play-in round. They advanced to the district tournament in 2024, but saw their season end in the play-in round last year, scoring just 27 points in a loss to Our Redeemer’s.

Velva nearly matched that scoring output in the opening quarter against Westhope-Newburg (4-16), putting up 23 points in the opening quarter to grab a seven-point lead. The Aggies led 37-33 at halftime and 50-44 after three.

“We played together really well,” Kirkhorn said. “We talked, we communicated, we played hard and the biggest part was we played together.”

Harden accounted for three of Velva’s four 3-pointers. Leah Volochenko knocked down the other in the second quarter. Lani Volochenko added nine points.

Selzler had 10 of her 16 in the second half.

Macy Bryans led the Sioux with 16 points. Marleigh Henry (12) and Olivia Ogaard (10) also finished in double figures.