Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
It only seems like Warwick’s Madison Leaf has been playing high school basketball forever.
The all-everything 5’5” senior guard for the Lady Warriors, author of over 2,000 points in her distinguished girls’ hoop tenure, was nearly unstoppable in a second-half surge for her squad with 33 points, including 10-of-11 from the foul line, to help Warwick earn a pivotal 56-46 win over the NR-S Rockets on Thursday, January 24.
The District 7 clash, played at Warwick, featured several first-half lead changes. The Warriors got all but two points from Leaf in their 14-point first quarter to take a small lead of three after one, 14-11.
In quarter two, the Rockets kept the WHS standout off the scoreboard, and with that, their fortunes reversed. Hannah Haley and Alli Dockter each had six points in that period to stake NR-S to a 24-19 halftime cushion.
However, the bottom fell out of the Rockets’ offense coming out of the locker room. Leaf got going again with 10 points, and the struggles from the field for NR-S (four points in the quarter) proved fatal to the team’s hopes for a comeback.
Haley had eight points for the Rockets (7-9, 2-4 District 7) in the final quarter, finishing with a team-high 17 points with Cassie Longnecker adding five more. Dockter, who finished with 10, also had double figures for NR-S.
The focus for the Rockets now shifts to the District 7 Tournament, which runs Feb. 8, 9 and 11 at Four Winds High School in Fort Totten. NR-S will be the #4 seed in the tournament, and are slotted to face #5-seeded Dakota Prairie (6-10) in the first round of play on Friday beginning at 4 p.m.
Host Four Winds-Minnewaukan (14-3) is the top overall seed in the tournament, and awaits the NR-S/DP winner in Saturday’s first semifinal contest at 5:30 p.m.
The two other first round games will pit #2 seed HWC (11-5) against #7 Warwick, and #3 Benson County (8-8) takes on #6 Lakota (3-13) in the nightcap.
Whoever loses the NR-S/DP game would automatically advance to the Region 4 qualifying game on Monday, February 11, and face the loser of the second semifinal game from Saturday night at 5:30 p.m.
District 7 Girls’ Basketball
Warwick 56, NR-S 46 at Warwick
NR-S 11 13 4 18 46
War. 14 5 16 21 56
NR-S: Hannah Haley 17, Alli Dockter 10, Cassie Longnecker 9, Carli Lies 4, Dani Bjerke 2, Kenna Munson 2, Brianna Price 2. Totals: 18 FG, 8-13 FT, 16 fouls. Three-pointers: Haley, Longnecker. Fouled out: Bjerke.
Warwick: Madison Leaf 33, Jayla Alberts 8, Shaylynn Demarrias 7, Sunnie Belgarde 3, Sydney Tollefson 3, Kalista Jackson 2. Totals: 18 FG, 16-19 FT, 10 fouls. Three-pointers: Leaf 3, Alberts.
