MINOT, ND – Several area players were honored as a part of the Class B Girls Basketball All-State Team. The teams are voted on by the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

 

 

First Team
Ellie Braaten – Westhope-Newburg
Brenna Stroklund – Kenmare-Bowbells
Hailey Quam – Shiloh Christian
Decontee Smith – Central Cass
Halle Crockett – Northern Cass

 

Second Team
Maya Vibeto – Our Redeemer’s
Mykell Heidlebaugh – Rugby
Karli Klien – Garrison
Ava Shuster – Stanley
Natalie Decoteau – St. John
Ellie Powell – Bowman County
Laikyn Roney – Oakes
Mataeya Mathern – Edgeley-Kulm-Montpelier
Klaire Cotton – Central Cass
Rylee Satrom – MayPortCG
Rylen Burgess – Cavalier

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MINOT STATE MEN’S HOCKEY

 

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. (MSU) – The Beavers simply refused to lose and now find themselves in the game they’ve been chasing for the past 12 months: The ACHA National Championship game. For the second straight night, the No. 1-ranked Minot State men’s hockey team needed overtime but the Beavers managed to find a way to win, beating No. 5-ranked Liberty 3-2 in the national semifinals Monday night. The win sends Minot State to today’s title game at 7 p.m. (CT) against No. 3-ranked Adrian (Mich.), which beat Ohio 8-5 in Monday night’s other semifinal. The Beavers advance to play for the program’s third National Championship which has been the team’s focus for the past 12 months after an early exit from last year’s national tournament, now a distant memory for a resilient Minot State team that erased a 2-0 deficit in the third period against the Flames.

 

Liberty scored two goals just 5 minutes, 37 seconds apart late in the first period, then rode goalie Hunter Virtostek, who finished the night with 61 saves. Fourteen of those saves came in the first period, and 20 more in the second as Liberty clung to the 2-0 lead until Minot State’s senior captain, Davis Sheldon, finally changed the game’s momentum, scoring a power-play goal off assists from Reid Arnold and Joey Moffatt 1:11 into the third. Having found a way to get the puck past Virtostek, the Beavers (34-3-0 overall) kept working hard looking for the equalizer and finally found it late in regulation as Josh Pederson tied the score at 2-2 with just 3:51 left in the third period off a Christian Kadolph assist. That sent the game into overtime, the Beavers second straight venture into the extra session as they needed overtime to dispatch Indiana Tech, 4-3, in Sunday night’s quarterfinals. Once again, Minot State prevailed in the extra period, outshooting Liberty 9-5 and finally putting the game-winner behind Virtostek 15:17 into overtime as Moffatt scored to send the Beavers into Tuesday’s National Championship contest. Sheldon and Kadolph assisted on the game-winner for Minot State, which got 29 saves from Jake Anthony in goal.

 

Now Minot State takes on the Adrian Bulldogs (37-2-2), a team the Beavers are 6-3 against head-to-head, but a team whose last win over the Beavers came 6-1 in the 2021 National Championship game.

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MINOT STATE WOMEN’S HOCKEY

 

BOSTON, Mass. (MSU) – The outcome proved disheartening, but head coach Ryan Miner was anything but disappointed. The third-ranked Minot State women battle their way into the ACHA Division I National Championship game for the first time since the 2019-2020 season, and led early against two-time defending champion Liberty, but the Flames grabbed a third-period lead then held off a Beaver comeback charge to win a third straight crown, 3-2 on Monday. Seniors Ensley Fendelet, Alisha O’Hara, Jordan Kulbida, Denali Sigurdson, Sydney Spicer, Jordan Ivanco, Ensley Fendelet, and Megan Norris wrapped up their careers at Minot State as runner-up national champions.

 

The Beavers (24-11-2 overall) nearly battled their way to the title as Norris scored a power-play goal off assists from Sigurdson and Paige Ackerman for a 1-0 lead with 8 minutes, 54 seconds gone in the title game. The Flames stole the game’s momentum, though, with a late first-period goal by Madison Glynn, her first of three in the contest just 52 seconds before the intermission. That provided a spark that Liberty used to take the lead as Glynn scored 2:42 into the second, and there it stayed for more than 27 minutes of action until Glynn netted her third of the day with 10:13 left in regulation. Trailing 3-1, the Beavers refused to go quietly as Riley Ball cut into the margin with 3:32 left off assists from Kulbida and Ackerman. Close, the Beavers couldn’t complete the comeback though, despite peppering Flames goalie Amanda Storey with 17 third-period shots, as Liberty held on for the one-goal win. Minot State’s Haylie Biever finished with 22 saves on the day.

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MINOT STATE BASEBALL

 

ST. GEORGE, Kan. (MSU) – Junior Mark Ossanna put together an outstanding performance at the plate Monday, hitting two home runs to help power the Minot State Beavers over the Sioux Falls Cougars 17-4 in 7 innings in the conclusion of an NSIC 3-game series. The Beavers sweep the series and have now won 8 of their last 9 games. Junior Gage Yost (2-0) got the win for Minot State (12-3 overall, 3-0 NSIC). The right-hander went four innings, giving up four runs, all of them earned, on two hits, allowing seven walks and striking out three. Junior Cameron Bagshaw also pitched well, going two shutout innings while allowing one hit, walking two and striking out three. Ossanna went 2-for-4 at the plate, supplementing his two home runs with three RBIs. Senior Derek Kay added to Ossanna’s awesome power-hitting performance by going 4-for-5 with a double, a home run and two RBI. Junior Javier Gutierrez also chipped in for the Beavers, going 2-for-3 with a double, a home run and three RBI. The Beavers next play a doubleheader on Thursday against Augustana starting at 11 a.m. The games were moved back two days, and the location of the games moved to the campus of Briar Cliff in Sioux City, Iowa, with the Vikings scheduled as the home team.

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MINOT STATE SOFTBALL

 

MINOT, N.D. (MSU) – Minot State’s Reegan Floyd dominated in the circle for the Beavers this weekend as she turned in career milestones. A first collegiate no-hitter and a career-high 13 strikeouts on Saturday were part of a huge weekend for the sophomore from Susanville, California who was honored by the NSIC on Monday as she was named the league’s Pitcher of the Week. The honor is the first this season for both Floyd and the Minot State softball team which swept visiting Regina in a four-game series in the Air-Supported Dome on the MSU campus on Saturday and Sunday. Floyd set the tone for that sweep as she struck out 13 of the 17 batters she faced in an 8-0, 5-inning no-hitter against the Cougars in the first of the four-game series. Improving to 5-5 on the season with the win, Floyd also added in one more inning of work in the circle on the weekend as she pitched the final inning of a 9-0, 5-inning win on Sunday. While she did allow a hit in her second appearance, she also added three more strikeouts to her total for the weekend. Floyd and the Beavers (13-9 overall) now are off until next week when they host the University of Mary in a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 28, starting at noon to open NSIC play. The doubleheader will be played either at the Air-Supported Dome on the MSU campus or at the South Hill Softball Complex.

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MINOT STATE FOOTBALL

 

MINOT, N.D. (MSU) – You can feel the excitement building amongst the players and staff, and it spread to the turf at First Western Bank Field as the start of the Ian Shields era kicked off this morning at 6 a.m. Shields, Minot State’s new head football coach, begins building his Beaver program that day with the first of 15 spring football practices culminating in the Minot State Spring Game on April 22. A group of returners about 85 strong suited up for spring practice and the chance to learn a new system under the guidance of new coaches. Working hard in strength and conditioning, what Coach Shields calls the team’s “Fourth Quarter Program,” but now it’s time for the players to learn the Xs and Os that they’ll take to the turf when the 2023 season begins for real with the home and season opener on Thursday, Aug. 31, against Southwest Minnesota State at 7 p.m. Learning the fundamentals in all facets of the game will be a big part of spring practice for the Beavers. “We’re at 100 level; we’re not skipping to the 400 level right away, it’s only lower-division courses as far as the football-side of it’s concerned,” Minot State’s new coach said. “Get the great fundamentals started, good techniques, get our systems in place and our terminologies in place, and put our program in place.

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WOLVES-KNICKS

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Julius Randle scored 57 points to tie the third-highest game in Knicks history, but the Minnesota Timberwolves rode a sizzling start and a steady finish to beat New York 140-134. Taurean Prince scored a season-high 35 points and went 8 for 8 from 3-point range for the Timberwolves, while Mike Conley added 24 points and 11 assists. His three free throws gave Minnesota the lead for good with 2:17 remaining. In a spectacular display of shooting and scoring, the Timberwolves made more than 70% of their shots in the first half and led by 17, before Randle carried the Knicks back with a franchise-record 26 points in the third quarter. The Wolves made their first 10 shots and didn’t cool off much the rest of the game, finishing at 61.4% and snapping a three-game skid despite playing without Anthony Edwards for a second straight game because of a sprained right ankle. The Timberwolves host Atlanta on Wednesday.