FARGO — Central Cass senior Decontee Smith recently helped lead the Squirrels to their first North Dakota Class B girls state basketball championship and now she's added another accolade to her career accomplishments.
The 5-foot-9 Smith has been named a Class B first-team, all-state selection. The state's sportscasters and sportswriters vote on the team, which includes first- and second-team selections.
“It’s a good final cap," said Central Cass head coach Jay Bachman. "It’s a final piece to her puzzle as far as the awards that she’s getting. ... It’s a big award. There’s a lot of really good players in our state and for her to be a top-five player in the state is really cool.”
Northern Cass senior guard Halle Crockett, Bismarck Shiloh Christian senior forward Hailey Quam, Westhope-Newburg senior guard Ellie Braaten and Kenmare-Bowbells senior center Brenna Stroklund rounded out the first team.
Smith, Crockett, Quam, Braaten and Stroklund were all Miss Basketball finalists.
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"It's awesome," Northern Cass head coach DC Lucas said of Crockett being an all-stater. "It’s great to see the culmination of her career to be not only a Miss Basketball candidate, but also the all-state piece of it. It’s nice to see her get recognized.”
Smith — who is set to play at Northern State — scored 25 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to help Central Cass earn a 58-55 overtime victory against Thompson in the Class B state title game played in Minot earlier this month.
“I was speechless for the things that she was doing because we were waiting for her to do that," Bachman said of Smith's state tournament performance. “She elevates the play of everybody and she’s the first one that loves when a teammate makes a big play.”
Smith was named the state tournament's most valuable player. She averaged 19 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 3.5 steals per game during her final prep season.
Crockett averaged 32 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2 assists per game and was named Region 1 senior athlete of the year.
The 5-foot-9 Crockett is headed to the University of Jamestown to continue her basketball career. She finished her prep career with 2,175 points. Crockett broke 10 school records for the Jaguars. Lucas said Crockett has been a multi-dimensional player throughout her Northern Cass career, playing every positions on the court for the Jaguars.
“In her final year, you saw it all come together of all the ways we were using her throughout her career," Lucas said. "It was impressive to watch.”
Below are the second-team selections:
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- Klaire Cotton, Central Cass
- Rylee Satrom, May-Port-CG
- Rylen Burgess, Cavalier
- Mataeya Mathern, Edgeley-Kulm-Montpelier
- Laikyn Roney, Oakes
- Natalie Decoteau, St. John
- Karli Klein, Garrison
- Mykell Heidlebaugh, Rugby
- Maya Vibeto, Minot Our Redeemer's
- Ellie Powell, Bowman County
- Ava Schuster, Stanley
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