Ipswich completed its girls' varsity basketball season at 6-15 after a 31-20 Region 2B play-in loss to North Central last Wednesday in the Tiger Den, a game that was postponed from Monday, due to the inclement weather earlier last week.

That sent the Thunder, also 6-15 with their win, to Sully Buttes to face the top-seeded Chargers in further regional action last Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Tiger girls were as cold in shooting as the weather outside that day, finishing 7-45 in total floor shots, which would include three treys and to make matters worse they were only 3-10 in free throw opportunities. The Thunder were 11-49 from the floor all from within the trey arc and were a warmer 9-12 in their free throw trips.

Consequently the Thunder would obtain a 6-2 first-quarter lead and upped that advantage to exactly 10 points 13-3 at the half, thanks to Brittney Frickson's late basket. The Tigers would attempt a second-half rally starting with a Quincy Olivier basket, but the visitors would still lead 22-12 with a quarter to play. The closest Ipswich could get in the final stanza was to within six points, 24-18, after a Karlie Gohl trey. But the Thunder wrapped things up with a Jenisa Jacobs' basket and five accurate free throws from Frickson, despite a late basket by Ipswich's Kaylin Onken.

The Thunder girls protected the basketball a lot better that day with only nine turnovers, while the Tiger ball-handlers would sustain 19 turnovers.

And the Thunder edged Ipswich 43-41 on the boards, led by Frickson with 11 boards to go with her game-high 20 points. That is a definite double-double by anybody's definition. Next in scoring was Jacobs with seven points, followed by Hope Hoerner with four points, who also added eight rebounds. Ipswich's top rebounders would be Gabby Wald with seven boards and Katie Bierman and Onken with six each.

Yes only three players would score for the Thunder, while Ipswich would counter with five. But the Tigers were only led by Bierman and Gohl with six points apiece. Gohl's were a pair of treys and Bierman included one trey. Next were Wald with four points and Olivier and Onken with two points apiece.

Ipswich had only five steals; the Thunder, 14, led by yes Frickson with six thefts. She also dished out four of her team's 10 assists.