Edmunds County Tribune -

The North Central Thunder lost a league twin bill varsity girls and boys basketball outcome  to Leola/ Frederick Area on Tuesday, Jan. 9 in Eureka.

The NC girls lost a hard-fought 43-40 decision that went into overtime. The Thunder boys would drop a 59-28 verdict.

The Thunder  girls had narrowly led 11-8 in the first quarter, then fell behind 17-15 at intermission. The third-quarter score would be 31-30 in favor of the Thunder and the regulation time score was knotted at 38-38.

The Thunder were led by Ella Batie with 13 points and Amree Vander Vorst was next with 12 points including two treys. Next would be Jenisa Jacobs with her seven points, followed by Alaina Dosch and Katelyn Engelhart with three points apiece. Sydney Bertsch added two points.

The Titans were led by Laura Sumption with 17 points that included a trey. They totaled 19 baskets that included two treys and were 2-6 in free throws. (The Titans would utilize five more scorers.) The Thunder had 27 rebounds, led by Batie with 11 boards for a definite double-double in anybody's books. The Titans had 30 rebounds led by Sofia Losure with 12. But the Thunder had 21 turnovers and the Titans, 18.

The North Central boys, meanwhile, would trail the Titans at each respective quarter stop, 19-11, 36-17 and 52-18.

The Thunder boys were led by Raynor Sprague and Cole Beitelspacher with five points apiece in a balanced scoring effort. They each included a trey. Trent Beyers also had a trey for his three points as did Harrison Beyers. Meanwhile Zane Haar netted four points and Tim Rucker had three points on free throws. Jade Jacobs and Cooper Oxner each tallied two points, while Dawson Walz scored one point at the charity stripe.

Leola-Frederick was led by Noah Kipley with 21 points and Brayden Sumption also got into double figures with 10 points. Eight more Titans would score at least one point that evening. They were able to connect on 22 floor shots that included five treys and had 10 accurate free throws. The Thunder responded with eight baskets that included four treys and were able to add a 8-13 free throw effort.

The Thunder were scheduled to host a girls/boys doubleheader on Tuesday, Jan. 16 versus Ipswich in Roscoe. The boys would play at Herreid/Selby Area on Thursday, Jan. 18. Then the girls would host Herreid/Selby Area on Friday, Jan. 19 in Bowdle. The boys and girls would travel to Langford for a doubleheader on Saturday, Jan. 20.