Northern Cass upends Kindred in Division A, Region 1 girls basketball semifinals

Posted by author February 26, 2025 Basketball

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FARGO — The Northern Cass girls basketball team lost 10 straight games to finish out the regular season.

Now, the Jaguars are one win away from the state tournament.

Behind a 30-point effort from senior Haidyn Crockett, No. 6 seed Northern Cass upended No. 2 Kindred 69-54 Tuesday during the North Dakota Division A, Region 1 girls basketball tournament semifinals at Scheels Center inside Sanford Health Athletic Complex.

Northern Cass’ Reese Laaveg battles for control of the ball against Kindred’s Zoe Sharp on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, during the semifinals of the ND Division A Girls Basketball Region 1 Tournament in the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.

Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum

Junior Tess Jalbert chipped in with 20 points for the Jaguars, who outscored the Vikings 26-10 in the final eight minutes to pull away.

Northern Cass (9-15) moves onto Thursday’s Region 1 championship game against top-seeded Valley City (20-2), with tipoff slated for 20 minutes after Thursday’s third-place contest at 1 p.m.

In the third-place game, Kindred (18-5) will square off with No. 5 seed Wahpeton (10-13). The winner will advance to a state qualifying game on Saturday, March 1.

It’s the fourth straight year the Jaguars have advanced to the region final. This year, against all odds.

“Obviously, the regionals are like a fresh start,” said Crockett, who is now 27 points shy of the Northern Cass all-time scoring record set by her sister Halle. “We knew we just had to come together, and we did (tonight) and these last few nights.”

022625.s.ff.Region1.GBB.SF2.4 — Northern Cass’ Haidyn Crockett looks for an opening to the basket during their semifinal game against Kindred on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, during the ND Division A Girls Basketball Region 1 Tournament in the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.

A switch has suddenly been flipped for the Jaguars, who fell to the same Kindred team twice in the regular season. Most recently, a 57-33 defeat to the Vikings on Feb. 3.

“The thing about (the losing streak) is that we’ve been in some games, we just couldn’t finish against some good teams,” Northern Cass head coach Kyle Morehart said. “Of course, winning (tonight) was unbelievable. But our girls have believed all season and have kind of come together.

“And when you have the Crockett factor, she’s going to get our points for us when we need it. And then our defense … we just came together at the right time. Tournament action, that’s what it’s all about. Anything can happen and we showed that (tonight).”

Morehart said the board battle and strong defense — particularly in the fourth quarter — were the difference.

“Our defense has been unbelievable and our rebounding,” Morehart said. “Those are the differences. They decided they wanted to do it now, and that’s what they’re doing.”

022625.s.ff.Region1.GBB.SF2.10 — Kindred’s Zoe Sharp, Leah Rolland and Kennedy Bakko jump for a rebound against Northern Cass’ Reese Laaveg, Kadence Husar and Olivia Olson on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, during the semifinals of the ND Division A Girls Basketball Region 1 Tournament in the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.

Kindred was led by freshman Siera Nipstad’s 23 points while junior Liza Trenbath added 10.

The Vikings’ six-game win streak was snapped.

022625.s.ff.Region1.GBB.SF2.9 — Kindred’s Leah Rolland goes up for two against Northern Cass’ Faith Fyre on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, during the semifinals of the ND Division A Girls Basketball Region 1 Tournament in the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.

Northern Cass led 14-12 after the opening quarter and 26-22 at halftime. Kindred took a 44-43 lead into the fourth quarter before the Jaguars’ strong finish.

Thursday’s region championship will be a rematch of last year’s final in which Northern Cass topped Valley City 47-36 to advance to its first state tournament since 2005.

The Hi-Liners have won 11 in a row this season.

“We know Thursday is going to be a tough one,” Crockett said. “But it’s just about staying together as a team and knowing we can do it.”

NC: 14 12 17 26

KHS: 12 10 22 10

NC: Crockett 30, Jalbert 20, Husar 8, Olson 7, Rider 2, Laaveg 2.

KHS: Nipstad 23, Trenbeath 10, Rolland 9, Bakko 6, Sanders 4, Sharp 2.

022625.s.ff.Region1.GBB.SF2.7 — Kindred’s Liza Trenbeath goes up for two against Northern Cass’ Tess Jalbert on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, during the semifinals of the ND Division A Girls Basketball Region 1 Tournament in the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.

022625.s.ff.Region1.GBB.SF2.8 — Northern Cass’ Olivia Olson jumps for two during their semifinal game against Kindred on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, during the ND Division A Girls Basketball Region 1 Tournament in the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.

022625.s.ff.Region1.GBB.SF2.2 — Northern Cass’ Haidyn Crockett passes the ball to a teammate against Kindred’s Zoe Sharp on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, during the semifinals of the ND Division A Girls Basketball Region 1 Tournament in the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.

Ryan Spitza joined The Forum in December 2021 as a sports reporter. He grew up in Marquette, Mich., a city of 20,000 on the southern shore of Lake Superior. He majored in multimedia journalism and minored in public relations at Northern Michigan University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in May 2019. While attending college, Spitza gained real-world experience covering high school and college athletics for both The Mining Journal and The North Wind.

Spitza can be reached at 701-451-5613 or rspitza@forumcomm.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryspitza.