RAPID CITY - The third time wasn't a charm for the Newell Irrigators.

Newell, which entered Thursday night's District 16A championship game against St. Thomas More with a 19-2 record, looked to avenge its only two losses of the season and win a district championship. But the Cavaliers had other ideas, handing the Irrigators a 32-22 defeat to advance to the Region 8A championship game against Red Cloud on Tuesday night in beating Newell for the third time this season.

"It was certainly a battle of defense," More head coach Brandon Kandolin said. "Both teams came out and played great defense. They started out pretty strong, and I was a little nervous there at the beginning."

The Cavaliers looked completely flummoxed by Newell's 1-2-2 half-court trap early in the game, as it took More almost six minutes to score a point. Luckily for the Cavaliers, the Irrigators had only registered two Monica Deighton buckets over that span.

Both teams looked a little tentative playing for a championship in the biggest arena in western South Dakota. It was the first game for either team on the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center floor and it took a while for the nerves to subside.

"Once we got that first basket down, we seemed to calm down a little," Kandolin said. "Without being in the (Lakota Nation Invitational) this year, we weren't real familiar with this floor and this setting. When you step on a floor this size, there are different things that will happen. That was to our benefit a little when they were pressing us because we got to spread out a little bit more, but certainly playing on a big floor makes a difference until you get used to it."

While More's offense took a while to get rolling, the defense was stifling, holding Newell to only nine points in the opening half.

"Once we got composed, I thought we handled the pressure pretty well," Kandolin said. "But you've got to give credit to them. They're quick, they're strong and they just do a lot of things well. That's why they're a good team and why they had a good record."

More eighth-grader Caitlin Duffy was the game's only double-figure scorer with 13 points. The Cavaliers (17-5) will play Red Cloud for the Region 8A championship on Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the civic center.

Monica Deighton paced the Irrigators (19-3) with seven points.