FARGO – The final North Dakota Class B, District 2 girls basketball tournament will begin Friday at the Fargo Civic Center. Next year teams in Region 1 – made up Class B schools that currently make up District 1 and District 2 – are transitioning to a Super-Region tournament format for volleyball, and boys and girls basketball.
On the eve of the final District 2 girls basketball tournament I offer a few storylines to keep an eye on this weekend and on Monday night when the tournament concludes.
First, below are the pairings of the tournament:
Class B, District 2
At Fargo Civic Center
Friday
1) No. 4 Richland vs. No. 5 Fargo Oak Grove, 4:30 p.m.
2) No. 2 Maple Valley vs. No. 7 Northern Cass, 20 min after Game 1
3) No. 3 Central Cass vs. No. 6 Enderlin, 20 min. after Game 2
Saturday
4) Game 2 loser vs. Game 3 loser, 4:30 p.m.
5) No. 1 Kindred vs. Game 1 winner, 20 min. after Game 4
6) Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 20 min. after Game 5
Monday
Region qualifiers
7) Game 1 loser vs. Game 6 loser, 4:30 p.m.
8) Game 5 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 20 min. after Game 7
Championship
9) Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 20 min after Game 8.
The Kindred Vikings are the No. 1-seeded team and with the district re-alignment that Class B went under this school year there, District 2 went from eight to seven teams.
With the seven team field, Kindred earned a first-round bye.
I covered Kindred’s District 2 regular season finale win against Maple Valley last week and head coach Perry Piatz said it will be different not playing first day of the tournament.
Below are a couple of story lines to track throughout the weekend:
1. Balanced Vikings are the favorites
Kindred is 19-0 and ranked No. 2 in North Dakota Class B. The Vikings are one of only two girls basketball teams in the state that are undefeated, the other being North Dakota Class A, No. 1-ranked Fargo Shanley.
I have covered the Kindred girls basketball team twice this season and in each game the Vikings displayed a balanced offense. Kindred is deep and Piatz said that’s led to many victories for his squad this season.
Kindred had 10 players score in its regular season win against Thompson and nine players score against Maple Valley.
If The Vikings win Saturday, they will be guaranteed a spot in the Region 1 tournament, which is set for Feb. 23-24 and 26 at the Fargo Civic Center.
Kindred last qualified for the state tournament in 2012.
2. Maple Valley’s Nudell continues to climb the state’s scoring list
Maple Valley junior Rylee Nudell has scored 522 points this season and has 2,461 career points.
Nudell currently sits in sixth place all-time on North Dakota’s unofficial girls basketball scoring list and could climb a couple more spots on the list before the season concludes. No official data is kept in regards to high school boys and girls basketball in the state of North Dakota, but the figures I use in this post are taken from the annual North Dakota Hoopster magazine.
Here is a look at where Nudell ranks and who she is chasing:
NORTH DAKOTA UNOFFICIAL SCORING LIST
1. Tanya Fischer (Bowman) 3,148 points from 1989-1993
2. Laura Hummel (Hague) 2,809 points from 1974-1979
3. Lynette Mund (Milnor) 2,625 points from 1986-1990
4. Rachel Otto (New Rockford) 2,542 points from 1987-1992
5. Whitney Meier (Rolla) 2,496 points points from 1981-1985
6. Rylee Nudell (Maple Valley) 2,461 points from 2011-present
Nudell is averaging 27.5 points per game for the Raiders.
Tom Mix is the North Dakota high schools sports reporter at The Forum. He has been working at The Forum since 2009 and has been covering the ND prep sports beat since 2012. Mix can be reached at tmix@forumcomm.com. Follow Mix on Twitter @MixMaster_TGM