Lady Braves Topple LA In Cross-County Tussle

The Britton-Hecla girls basketball team topped Langford Area in a cross-county tussle on Friday 44-29 and held its own against unbeaten and top-ranked Sisseton last week Tuesday 51-37.

Coach Terry Nelson’s club, now 6-10, travels to Clark-Willow Lake on Thursday, hosts Waubay-Summit in a makeup contest from Jan. 15 on Monday, and plays at Hamlin on Tuesday.

“We’re slowly getting there,” said Nelson. “We weren’t hitting our shots against Langford Area, but I thought a key for us was Addison Wade’s defense against Alex Darling. And we played good defense against Sisseton, holding them under 60 points for the first time this season.”

Britton-Hecla 44 Langford Area 29

Britton-Hecla scored the first eight points of the second quarter to boost a one-point first quarter lead to nine and never trailed, but Langford Area hung around for most of the contest.

Sterling Brassfield and Heather Strobakken turned steals into points and Addison Wade hit a pair of buckets from outside in the Lady Braves’ second quarter run. Alex Darling canned a trey and Eliana Darling converted a three-point play to stop the matchup on Friday. bleeding and B-H led 19-12 at halftime.

LA’s Paytyn Marlow opened the second half with a fielder off an Alex Darling assist to cut the margin to five, but that was as close as the Lady Lions would get. Brassfield hit a bucket and free toss and dished an assist to RaeAnn Hagenson to put BH up 26-16 after three.

The Lady Lions still trailed by just nine, 33-24, with 4:11 to play, but Britton-Hecla’s Jayden Bender hit a fielder and three-pointer, and Tiyanna Schott put a rebound back up for two to keep LA at bay.

Brassfield had 11 points, four assists, and six steals to lead B-H, and Bender pulled down 11 rebounds to push her over the 500 mark in her prep career. Storbakken added four assists. Megan Gustafson paced LA with 10 counters.

LANGFORD AREA: Paytyn Marlow 1 0-0 2, Tawnee Nelson 2 0-0 4, Alex Darling 2 2-2 8, Megan Gustafson 3 4-12 10, Eliana Darling 1 1-3 3, Lizzie Gustafson 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 7-17 29.

BRITTON-HECLA: Sterling Brassfield 5 1-2 11, Tiyanna Schott 3 1-2 7, Jayden Bender 3 1-6 8, Addison Wade 3 1-2 7, Heather Storbakken 3 1-2 7, Rae Ann Hagenson 1 0-0 2, Koryn Jones 1 00 3. Totals 19 5-14 44.

LA (6-10) 6 12 16 29 BH (6-10) 7 19 26 44

3-point goals – A. Darling 2; Bender. Fouled out – M. Gustafson; Schott. Total fouls – LA 16,BH 17.

Sisseton 51 Britton-Hecla 37

Britton-Hecla lost to the Class A number one ranked and unbeaten Sisseton squad but it wasn’t a cakewalk for the visitors.

The Redmen scored the first seven points of the game in just over a minute but the Lady Braves regrouped behind a pair of free tosses and fielder from Addison Wade and a Tiyanna Schott hoop in the lane to cut the margin to 11-6. Sisseton went on a 6-0 run to end the quarter and led 17-16.

B-H steadied the ship and was outscored just 11-9 in the second stanza as Sterling Brassfield hit six and Sisseton led by 13 at the half, 28-15. The visitors did stretch that margin to 43-25 after three periods but the Lady Braves outscored Sisseton 12-8 in the final stanza for the final 14point margin.

Brassfield led Britton-Hecla with 14 points and four steals. Jayden Bender grabbed 10 rebounds.

SISSETON: Hannah Leverson 4 00 10, Emmalee Nielsen 1 0-0 2, Chloe Langager 5 1-2 11, Krista Langager 7 1-1 15, Tara Nelson 1 0-0 3, Alexia Quinn 1 0-0 2, Rylie Huff 3 0-3 7, Elliot Hortness 0 1-2 1. Totals 22 3-8 51.

BRITTON-HECLA: Sterling Brassfield 6 2-2 14, Tiyanna Schott 1 3-4 5, Jayden Bender 3 2-2 8, Addison Wade 0 2-2 2, Heather Storbakken 1 00 2, RaeAnn Hagenson 0 2-2 2, Mallory Grupe 1 0-0 2, Koryn Jones 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 11-12 37.

Sisseton (13-0) 17 28 43 51 BH (5-10) 6 15 25 37

3-point goals – Leverson 2, Nelson, Huff. Total fouls – Sisseton 14, BH 7.