The Region 2B girls' high school basketball tournament action got underway this week and the upper-bracket semifinals on Tuesday pitted the overall #1 seed Ipswich vs. the winner of an #8 vs. #9 Monday confrontation Potter County. Number-four Sully Buttes also hosted #5 Highmore-Harrold in that bracket's other semifinal on Tuesday.

In the bottom bracket, Edmunds Central traveled to Faulkton on Tuesday, as the overall sixth-seeded team, hosted by the #3 Trojans in a bracket semifinal. The other Tuesday game in that bracket was to pit the #7 vs. #10 winner from Monday, Eureka/Bowdle against #2 Herreid/Selby Area playing at home.

The Tuesday outcomes were unavailable, as of our newspaper deadline.

The two Region 2B bracket championships will be decided on Thursday, Feb. 21, each at the home of the higher seed and both of those winners will advance to the re-seeded statewide SoDak 16 on February 28 with those eight winners all securing a spot in the State B scheduled for Huron.

Due to earlier inclement weather, the Lady Tigers were able to get one regular-season opportunity on Friday, resulting in a 75-47 win over Highmore-Harrold.

But it certainly accomplished a lot! As of that game, Kamryn Heinz now owns the IHS school record of career three-point baskets and her sister Halle Heinz shattered the Lady Tigers' single-season trey record.

So you might correctly guess that treys were a factor in the outcome and that would be correct. Ipswich jumped ahead 24-10 after a quarter and led 43-16 at intermission. The Lady Tigers added a 63-28 lead with a quarter to play, outscoring their visitors 20-12 in the third stanza for a comfortable cushion. Even though the visitors obtained a 19-12 fourth-quarter scoring edge, thanks to some timely treys of their own!

Ipswich indeed finished with 10 treys and Highmore-Harrold, eight. For the Lady Tigers, Halle Heinz netted a game-high 33 points, including five treys. Abby Grabowska was next with 18 points and she included a trey. Kamryn Heinz finished with 17 points, including a trio of treys. Credit Halie Feldman with five points, including a trey and Taryn Kleffman completed the IHS ledger with two points. Counting assists, Halle Heinz had a double-double with her bundle of points and 15 assists.

Highmore-Harrold was led by Grace Knox with 11 points and seven other H-H scorers got into their scorebook in a balanced effort.

Ipswich netted a 40-26 rebounding edge led by the Heinz sisters with seven apiece. Ipswich helped force 15 turnovers with 12 steals, led by Kamryn Heinz and Halle Heinz with four thefts apiece. Meanwhile, the Lady Tigers played an excellent floor game with only five miscues.