GRAND FORKS - Wahpeton won only one game against North Dakota opponents this season. But that one victory - Friday in the loser-out round of the regional - had Fargo Shanley feeling a need to assert itself early.
"We wanted to come out aggressive," Shanley coach Tim Jacobson said. "There was a sense of urgency to get things done early because Wahpeton had played well (Friday) and we were coming off a loss. We needed to get our confidence up.
"We wanted to come at them hard defensively."
The Deacons' defense set the tone early as Shanley controlled from start to finish in a 65-40 victory against Wahpeton in a state-qualifying game Saturday.
Shanley built a 34-16 halftime, holding Wahpeton to 6-of-23 shooting while forcing the Huskies into 17 turnovers in the first 18 minutes.
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Wahpeton's shooting improved and its turnovers decreased in the second half. But by then it was too late.
"We needed to do the same thing we did well Thursday, take care of the ball," Wahpeton coach Toviao Hopkins said. "But we didn't. I think our kids might have wanted this one too badly."
Nicole Carew paced Shanley with 22 points, with Sophie Kenney adding 11 and freshman center Jessica Anderson nine. Shanley had 36 of its points from in the paint.
"Physically, we couldn't match up with them inside," Hopkins said. "They had us in mismatches all over."
Marie Lommel had nine points to lead Wahpeton.
Half: FS 34, W 16.
W: Lommel 9, Irwin 8, Kretchman 5, Kleven 5, Krogh 4, LaHaise 4, DeVillers 2, Edwards 2, Albrecht 1.
FS: Carew 22, Kenney 11, Anderson 9, Rivard 5, Kilen 4, Saville 3, K. Weir 3, Greving 2, R. Weir 2, Erickson 2, Mickelson 2.
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Grand Forks Red River 57, West Fargo 41
West Fargo girls basketball coach Barb Metcalf said she had hoped top-seeded Grand Forks Red River's offensive struggles in a semifinal loss Friday to Fargo North would carry over to Saturday's state-qualifying game.
They didn't.
Red River shot 45 percent from the field compared to West Fargo's 22 percent as the Roughriders rolled to a 57-41 victory in the East Region tournament at the Alerus Center.
"Red River came to play and shot well," Metcalf said. "We were hoping they wouldn't shoot well again today, but that was just too good to be true."
The Riders, who improved to 20-2, took off midway through the first half. After West Fargo's Hayley Miller knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at 18 with 7 minutes, 6 seconds left in the first half, Red River countered with a 10-0 run spanning the next four minutes.
Red River post Emily Evers had five points in the run, Emily Asche had two baskets and Chelsea Carlson had a free throw. Carlson's free throw gave Red River a 28-18 lead.
The Packers never cut the lead deeper than eight points the rest of the way.
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Half: GFRR 32, WF 22.
GFRR: Asche 13, Evers 13, Carlson 9, Carroll 8, Marhula 7, Haaven 3, Borg 2, Ferry 2.
WF: Holland 12, Becher 12, Green 5, Krough 5, Miller 3, Baltezore 2, Gustafson 2.
Tom Miller and Greg DeVillers are writers for the Grand Forks Herald, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.
