Grafton vs Thompson – Division A Region 2 Girls Basketball Tournament 3rd Place

Recap

#3 Thompson met #4 Grafton in the 3rd place game of the ND Division A Region Two Girls Basketball Tournament, Thursday. Despite a cold-shooting third quarter, the Tommies mustered up just enough offense to outlast the Spoilers, 57-47.

Thompson started out strong with a 14-6 lead in the first six minutes, courtesy of four three-pointers, three from Kya Hurst and one from Claire Kolling. Grafton outscored the Tommies the rest of the quarter, 7-2, to cut the lead to three after the first quarter. Thompson would once again lead early in the second quarter, having a 24-15 advantage with 4:30 to play in the opening half. Once again Grafton would reel the Tommies in, outscoring the green and white 13-4 in the back half of the second quarter to tie it at 28 going into the halftime locker room.

Both teams struggled to put the ball in the basket in the third. Thompson missed all ten shots from the field while Grafton shot just 4/13 in the third quarter. Despite not making a field goal in the quarter, Thompson sunk six free throws to hang with Grafton, as the Spoilers led 38-34 going into the final quarter. Thompson stayed aggressive in the fourth quarter, getting back to the free-throw line and making them count, sinking all eleven from the charity stripe in the final eight minutes, while draining a couple threes, to outlast the Spoilers.

Hurst and Addison Sage co-led the Tommies with 18 points each. Kolling also tallied 15 in the win for Thompson. Kate LeClerc led the Spoilers, and all scorers, with 19. Molly Bjorneby and Savannah Blackcloud also reached double figures for Grafton with 13 and 12 respectively.

With the win, Thompson improves to 19-5 and moves on to Saturday’s State Qualifier rounds against Northern Cass. Grafton finishes their season at 10-14.