The North Central Thunder girls basketball team lost their varsity opener to Sully Buttes 54-48 on December 8 in Onida.

But as you can see, the visiting team hung around within striking distance of the powerful Chargers.

The Thunder indeed trailed 19-11 after a quarter and the hosts couldn't really pull away to a more comfortable lead.

The Chargers did lead 33-18 at intermission, though and still led 44-31 with a quarter to play. But the Thunder would then outscore their hosts 17-10 down the stretch to make things interesting.

The Thunder were led by three double-figure scorers, paced by Ella Batie with 14 points. Next were Amree VanderVorst with 13 points and Alaina Dosch with 12 points, each included a trey. Jenisa Jacobs added seven points and Lindsey Geier a basket. Meanwhile the Chargers countered with three double-figure scorers themselves led by Stevie Wittler with 14 counters. They totaled six players in their scorebook.

The Thunder made 18 two-point baskets and those two treys plus six free throws in 14 tries. The Chargers netted 24 two-pointers and one trey. They added three free throws.

The Thunder led the rebounds battle, 30-25. They were led by Batie with 11 for a double-double effort. Vander Vorst had nine boards.

The girls and boys were to play a doubleheader against McIntosh on Dec. 9, but that was postponed. They traveled to Ipswich for a doubleheader on Tuesday. Then the teams will head to North Dakota. The girls will travel to Strasburg/ Zeeland on Dec. 18. Then the boys are scheduled to play South Border on Dec. 19.