TR staff reports

The Oak Grove Grovers are headed to the State Class B Basketball Tournament.
Dylan Dangerfield scored 23 points, and Oak Grove stayed perfect on the year with its third win over Central Cass, 66-62 Thursday in the Region 1 title game.
Dangerfield, Shayden Akason (18) and Sam Olson (19) combined for 60 of the Grovers’ 66 points as they move on to state with a 24-0 record. Oak Grove made 17 of 22 free throws while Central Cass went 8-for-21 at the line.
Riley Streit paced Central Cass (20-5) with 24 points. Harrison Weber added 14 for the Squirrels, who have been Region 1 runner-up for three straight seasons.
Oak Grove meets Region 6 champ Berthold in the first game of the state tournament March 18-20 in Minot. Top-ranked North Star dropped the Region 4 title game to Carrington, leaving the No. 2-ranked Grovers as the only undefeated team left in Class B basketball.
Oak Grove 66, Central Cass 62
CC    14     32     48     62
OG    20     35     51     66
Scoring: CC - Zimmerman 9, Ham 9, Streit 24, Schumacher 2, Sundquist 2, Bresnahan 2, Weber 14. OG - Hesby 3, Akason 18, Dangerfield 23, Richards 1, Olson 19, Larson 2.

Hankinson 65, Maple Valley 62
Maple Valley held a six-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t hang on down the stretch as they dropped the Region 1 third-place game to Hankinson, 65-62.
Maple Valley ends its season with an 18-7 record and fourth-place at the Region 1 tournament. The Raiders lose just two seniors after this season, AJ Von Bank and Justin Johnson.
Jordan Haseleu led the Raiders with 24 points and five assists in the loss. Ethen Preston also scored in double figures with 14 points. Ty Smith added nine points and Dylan Lerud chipped in eight.
Alex Althoff scored 23 points to lead Hankinson to third-place.
Hankinson 65, Maple Valley 62
MV     18     31     49     62
HAN     15     34     43     65
Scoring: MV - Behm 7, Smith 9, Von Bank 0, Lerud 8, Preston 14, Haseleu 24. HAN - Althoff 23, Hangaard 16, Gulan 5, Stein 7, Anderson 12, Dickerman 2.

TR staff reports

The Valley City State softball started its spring trip to Cocoa Beach, Fla., with a bang, knocking out 27 runs en route to two wins on the opening day of their trip.
VCSU (5-3) earned a 7-2 win over Penn State-Beaver in the day’s opening game, and then blasted Castleton State College 20-1 in their second game of the day.
The Vikings’ final game was rained out, as was their first game on Friday.

VCSU 7, Penn St. 2
Stephanie O’Dell turned in a solid performance on the mound, and the Viking offense banged out 12 hits en route to their 7-2 win.
O’Dell (2-2) went 5 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits and two runs in picking up the win.
Cyndi Figol tallied three hits and two RBIs to lead the Viking offense. Jane Pettit, Lacey Hauser and Amanda Carter all added two hits, and Hauser and Hayley Bevan each drove in two runs.
Penn State scored first with one run in the top of the first inning, but VCSU responded with two runs in the first and two in the second to take the lead for good.
VCSU 7, Penn State 2
PS    100    001    0    -    2    8    2
VCSU    220    012    x    -    7    12    0
VC pitching: O’Dell - 5.1IP, 8H, 2R, 3BB, 4SO, win; Hathaway 1.2IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 4SO.
VC batting: Pettit 2-4, 2R; Figol 3-4, R, 2RBI; Hauser 2-4, 2RBI; Carter 2-4, R; Bevan 0-3, R, 2RBI.

VCSU 20, Castleton St. 1
Jane Pettit hit two home runs and drove in six runs as the Vikings had little trouble with Castleton State College.
Krystal Hathaway (1-0) earned her first win of the season in her first start. The Vikings’ ace went three innings on the mound and gave up just one hit and one run.
Again, the Vikings found themselves down 1-0 after the top of the first, but that didn’t last long.
The Vikings scored four in the bottom of the inning, and then erupted for 12 runs in the second en route to the 20-1 blowout.
Amanda Carter went 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs.
Adrianna Boychuck pitched two scoreless innings in relief for the Vikings.
VCSU 20, Castleton St. 1
CS    1 0 0    000    0    -    1    2    2
VC    4124     000    x    -    20    15    0
VC pitching: Hathaway 3IP, H, R, BB, 6SO, win; Boychuck 2IP, H, 0R, 2BB, 4SO.
VC batting: Smith 1-1, 3R; Shadlock 2-2, 2R; Carter 4-4, 2R, 4RBI; Pettit 3-3, 2R, 6RBI.

 Mark Potts / Times-Record
Maple Valley’s Jesse Behm drives to the hole for a basket at the Region 1 Tournament in Fargo on Tuesday. Behm scored 22 points, but his Raiders came up short against top-seeded Oak Grove, losing 59-46.

 Oak Grove stays perfect by holding off pesky Raiders

By Mark Potts, VCTR

FARGO, N.D. – Oak Grove wasn’t perfect Tuesday night, but they were clutch. And that kept them perfect on the season.
The Grovers held off a pesky Maple Valley team with clutch shots in the second half and improved to 23-0 with a 59-46 win over the Raiders in Tuesday’s Region 1 semifinals at the Fargo Civic Center.
“We’d go on a 6-0 run, and they’d come back with a 5-0 run of their own,” Maple Valley coach Jayson Kocka said after the loss – just Maple Valley’s sixth defeat of the season. “They’re a good basketball team, we’ve nothing to hang our heads about. We competed and we played hard. I don’t think we always played the smartest, but I’m proud of our guys.”
Trailing 32-19 at halftime, the Raiders cut the deficit down to six and seven points at times in the second half, but each time Oak Grove drilled run-stopping 3-pointers to keep the rallying Raiders at bay.
Jesse Behm scored 12 straight for Maple Valley to open the second half, fueling a 12-5 run that cut Oak Grove’s lead to 37-31 midway through the third quarter. But as was the story all night, Oak Grove had the answer.
Alex Hesby knocked down a 3-pointer to stop the rally, and Shayden Akason drove in for two of his 21 points to quickly push the lead back to 11 points at 42-31.
The Raiders cut it to seven points (44-37) early in the fourth quarter on Behm’s putback, but Akason was up to the challenge. He drilled a 3-pointer, knocked down two free throws and finished a breakaway layup.

For full coverage of the Region 1 semifinals, see the March 10, 2010, printed edition of the Valley City Times-Record.

Region 1 Tournament
@ Fargo Civic Center
Monday – Quarterfinals
Hankinson 76, FSHP 58
Central Cass 66, Milnor 37
Maple Valley 59, Lisbon 50
Oak Grove 59, Oakes 44
Tuesday – Semifinals
Central Cass 66, Hankinson 59
Oak Grove 59, Maple Valley 46
Thursday’s schedule
3rd place: Maple Valley vs. Hankinson, 6 p.m.
Championship: Central Cass vs. Oak Grove, 7:45 p.m.

A No. 4 seed is just one win away from completing a cinderella run at the Region 3 Tournament in Jamestown.
One night after upsetting top seed Linton, the LaMoure Loboes continued their run through the Region 3 tournament with a 50-49 semifinal win over Strasburg-Zeeland.
Leading 48-46, LaMoure’s Wade Aberle sank two free throws with 5 seconds to play, offsetting Strasburg’s meaningless 3 at the buzzer and securing LaMoure’s spot in the championship game Thursday night at the Jamestown Civic Center.
To make the Class B State Tournament, they’ll need to pull one more upset when they meet No. 2-seeded Kidder County in the title game at about 7:45 p.m.
LaMoure trailed 27-17 early in the third quarter Tuesday, but the Loboes closed the quarter with a 21-7 run as they brought a 38-34 lead into the final period.
After scoring 24 points in the upset of Linton, Aaron Stemen led the way once again for LaMoure (16-8) on Tuesday, dropping 19 points and pulling down seven rebounds.
Senior point guard Brett Hample added 15 points, including two 3-pointers, and LaMoure shot a solid 46 percent (17-37) from the field.
Bobbi Kramer scored 19 to lead Strasburg-Zeeland (17-7), but the No. 3-seeded Clippers were unable to complete their own unlikely run to the championship.

For Region 3 semifinal coverage, see the March 10, 2010, printed edition of the Valley City Times-Record.

Region 3 Tournament
@ Jamestown Civic Center
Quarterfinals – Monday
Napoleon 48, Valley City 44 (OT)
Kidder County 63, Ellendale 57
Strasburg-Zeeland 51, LMM 45
LaMoure 59, Linton 45
Tuesday – Semifinals
Kidder County 53, Napoleon 39
LaMoure 50, Strasburg-Zeeland, 49
Thursday’s schedule
3rd place: Strasburg-Zeeland vs. Napoleon, 6 p.m.
Championship: LaMoure vs. Kidder County, 7:45 p.m.