Ana Spear (1) celebrated her birthday with a Breckenridge win
Following a handful of Heart O’ Lakes heartbreakers, the Breckenridge Cowgirls picked up a huge road win Thursday against a conference powerhouse.
Breckenridge, ranked 19th in Class 1A, dominated Class 2A, fifth-ranked Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, 71-51, knocking off the conference leader.
Breckenridge guard Emily Gowin scored a game-high 20 points and Johnica Bernotas added 16. Mariah Koltes, Sienna Fobb and Ava Jaehning added eight points each.
Breckenridge led 25-23 with 3:24 left in the opening half. That’s when Bernotas put the team on her back, scoring 11 points to close the period as the Cowgirls took a 39-26 lead into the break.
The Rebels entered Thursday’s contest with a 13-2 record, owning wins over No. 4 Proctor and No. 7 Perham. The Cowgirls came in at 8-6, looking to avenge a 60-51 loss to DGF in their home opener.
The resumes didn’t matter, as Breckenridge rattled the Rebels with its ferocious full-court press. Offensively, the Cowgirls were surgical in their high-post offense, cutting to the hoop, draining threes and making the Rebels respect elbow jumpers from the post duo of Koltes and Fobb.
Breckenridge used the six-foot combination of Koltes and Fobb to script talented center Aria Garrett out of the game. Garrett struggled to touch the basketball as she was constantly fronted in the paint, while the Breckenridge back court sank down to deflect entry passes.
Garrett finished the contest with 12 points and Greta DeVries scored 12 of her team-high 16 in the second half, but DGF never cut the lead to single digits.
Complete statistics were unavailable as of press time, but Parker Yaggie added a litany of steals in addition to her six points as a key part of the Cowgirls’ trap defense.
The Cowgirls (9-6, 5-4 HOL) set their sights on Saturday’s Border Battle doubleheader vs. Wahpeton (5-5) at North Dakota State College of Science. The contest begins at 4:30 p.m. following the 2:30 p.m. boys game.
Listen to the Border Battle games on B 92.7 FM and watch on KBMW News Live YouTube.