Edmunds County Tribune -

The Thunder basketball program had a fruitful excursion to Sunshine Bible last Friday. And that's because the NC girls won 45-29 and the boys came home with a 50-31 victory.

How did the girls accomplish all that? Well, it's because for one thing they played really well defensively, leading 8-7 after a quarter and 18-11 at halftime. They then carried a 30-20 lead into the final quarter and the rest was history.

Offensively the Thunder were paced by Ella Batie with her 15 points and Amree Vander Vorst was next with 14 points that featured one trey. Next would be Alaina Dosch with eight points that included two treys. Kaidence Bulgin added three points. Katelyn Engelhart scored two points as did Janisa Jacobs and Sydney Bertsch added one free throw. They were 14-43 in floor shots including those treys and were 14-22 in free throws.

The hosts were led by Sadie Konechne with 13 but their scoring tapered off to seven points from Lydie Lo. Five more players with score. They were 10-54 in field goals including one trey and were 8-18 in free throws.

Batie led the Thunder with nine of their 29 rebounds, almost a double and the hosts would counter with 38 rebounds. North Central had 24 turnovers and SBA, 38. But Batie and Vander Vorst each came away with five steals.

Now for the boys!

North Central led comfortably at each quarter stop, 13-10, 30-15 and 43-24.

Their leading scorers would become Raynor Sprague with his 14 points that included three treys and Cole Beitelspacher also with 14 points and one trey. Dawson Walz had seven points and Zane Haar got six points with one trey. Jade Jacobs had four points. Kobe Wherry scored three points on a trey and Brady Beitelspacher had two points.

Meanwhile Dominic Kalacinski scored 10 points for SBA and Trey Thieman was next with his nine points. Four more players scored.

The Thunder had 9-32 two-point field goal shooting and were 6-17 in treys. They were 14-20 in their free throws. The Crusaders countered with 10 accurate two-pointers with four treys and were 1-6 in free throws.

The Thunder claimed 38 rebounds led by Walz with nine of them and Cole Beitelspacher added seven boards. The hosts had 36 rebounds.

The Thunder only committed 13 turnovers and the Crusaders 15 miscues. And the visitors had 11 steals led by Cole Beitelspacher with four thefts.