Edmunds County Tribune -

The North Central Thunder were stopped by McLaughlin 60-27 in a Region 6A encounter last Tuesday, Feb. 20 in Miller.

The Thunder were only down 5-3 at the first quarter break but would then fall behind 24-9 at halftime. And they would trail 49-23 after three quarters of play.

But they were able to receive a balanced scoring effort that was led by Amree Vander Vorst with seven points including one trey. Next would become Alaina Dosch with her five points that also featured a trey. Katelyn Engelhart and Tylee Vander Vorst each added four points and Ella Batie had three points. Meanwhile Lindsey Geier and Ashton Heyne would each score two points for the Thunder.

But McLaughlin's Blake Thomson led all scorers with her 21 points. Mari Richards added 15 points and Sandee Steele also got into double-figures with her 14 points.

And four more of their players would score at least one point. That gave them 24 field goals that included seven treys and were 5-11 in free throw attempts. The Thunder countered with 10 baskets that would include their pair of treys and they added a 5-8 free throw evening.

The Thunder obtained 33 rebounds paced by Batie with nine boards, while Amree Vander Vorst and Engelhart each added eight of them. The McLaughlin contingent grabbed 31 rebounds led by Richards with 10 of them for a definite double-double.

The Thunder sustained 33 turnovers and McLaughlin, 16.

The Thunder were relatively young this year with only two of them being seniors and they would be Katelyn Engelhart and Jenisa Jacobs. They finished their 2023-24 campaign with eight wins.