Minot's Ariana Rood (1), Maggie Fricke (2), Eve Knutson (3) and LeeLee Bell (30) celebrate after winning the West Region championship game against Bismarck Century at the Bismarck Event Center on Saturday, March 7, 2026. TANNER ECKER/Bismarck Tribune

Minot High senior post LeeLee Bell closed the book on her WDA girls’ basketball career on Saturday, penning a closing chapter that includes a third region championship, a scoring record and another trip to next week’s state Class AA tournament on the same Event Center floor.

The 6-foot-4 Bell scored 27 of her 36 points after halftime, leading the top-seeded Majettes to a 74-64 win over Century and their third WDA championship in four years.

“I felt amazing out there and I’m glad we got this WDA championship in my senior year and I had an amazing team to do it with me,” Bell said.

Standout senior guard Maggie Fricke had a tremendous all-around game with 15 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two 3-pointers. She was 5-for-5 from the line. Kinley Bartsch added four 3-pointers and 14 points.

The game was a matchup between the two teams considered the blue bloods of WDA girls’ basketball. Between the two, at least one has appeared in 18 straight WDA championship games.

The game also was the last conference game for Bell, considered a generational talent who is headed to the University of Oklahoma after the school year ends. She takes with her more than 3,000 career points and school record for rebounds, several all-state honors (with more to come) and will be the front-runner for the Miss Basketball award given by the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association to the best senior player in the state.

Few people were left shaking their heads after Saturday’s exhibition. When will we see another LeeLee Bell?

“I don’t know,” Minot coach Jason Schwarz said. “There’s a reason she was recruited differently, because of her size and what she can do. She can handle the ball, shoot it and guard on the perimeter. Maybe if we were in a bigger city. But in North Dakota, few and far between.”

Schwarz didn’t get any disagreement from Century coach Nate Welstad, whose team was victimized by Bell to the tune of 95 points and 37 rebounds in three games this season.

“There’s not many that I’ve seen in my days, and I don’t know that we’ll see another who’s built like her, just the stature, how she plays. She’s just a generational player,” Welstad said.

Bell finished the three-day tournament with a record for points scored in a tournament with 102 points. She also has the second- and third-highest totals with 86 and 83; set the record for points scored in a title game (the old mark was 33 by Bell in 2024) and tied the record for most points scored in any game with 42 on Thursday. That total tied with Dickinson’s Aanen Moody, who had 42 against St. Mary’s in a 2017 first-round boys’ game.

The game wasn’t all about Bell. Including last year’s title, the Patriots have 11 championships since 2009. Playing the Patriots is no walk in the park.

Minot took its first lead at 4-3 and kept it for most of the first half. Century guards Kaylie Welstad and Abby Fosland carried most of the first-half offense and kept the pressure on. With 3:12 left in the half, Lakyn Johnson scored a 3-pointer on a second-chance opportunity to tie the game at 21. But they let a chance to get the lead slip away before halftime and Minot went into the break ahead 24-21.

Things were still looking up when Fosland scored a minute into the second half to keep the deficit at four. Then the Bell rung, over and over and over. Bell scored 14 straight points in the first six minutes of the half. That was the key, Welstad said.

“We tried to get more ball pressure out away from the basket because we knew if she got the ball by the basket we were in trouble,” Welstad said. “We did that, but at halftime they were able to regroup and we weren’t able to withstand that first six minutes. They are real solid in that first six minutes.”

Behind Bell, Minot found itself up 50-38 and with the lead firmly established, Minot simply rode out the rest of the clock.

“Every day you go through ups and downs, we’ve had that. We’ve had some cool highs and this is one of them,” Schwarz said.

Fosland made 10 of 12 shots from the field, many acrobatic baskets around the rim and finished with a team-high 22 points. Kaylie Welstad had 17 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals. Kinley Thorton added 13 points and five rebounds.