FT. PIERRE - Winner earned a trip the state tournament with a 38-18 upset win over No. 6-ranked Bennett County in the Region 7A championship game.

Winner avenged a regular season loss to Bennett County by holding the Lady Warriors to only 13 percent shooting for the game.

The victors led 22-12 after three quarters of play and outscored Bennett County 16-6 in the final quarter en route to the 20-point win.

"Bennett County defended very well and didn't let us do a lot of the stuff we wanted to do, and we had to match that," Winner head coach Derris Buus said. "We knew we could defend Bennett County by putting three or four girls on Krolikowski and Kratovil. We did a very good job in the halfcourt set and rebounded really well and that was key."

Megan Phillips and Jordan Harter each scored 10 points to pace the winners.

Keely Krolikowski netted 10 points for Bennett County, who finished the season with a 20-3 record.

Winner (19-4) is making its first trip to the state Class A basketball tournament in the past 10 years. The tournament is March 6-8 in Watertown.

"We're going to Watertown to try and represent Region 7A in a positive way and get a championship," Buus said.

DISTRICT 6A

HIGHMORE - Stanley County nailed down a state Class A tournament berth with a 45-32 win over Miller Area in the District 6A championship on Friday night.

The Lady Buffs used a big fourth-quarter run to seal the win.

The Rustlers led 14-11 after one quarter of play.

The two teams were tied at the break at 22-all before Miller Area forged a 27-26 lead after three quarters.

Stanley County made only three baskets in the final eight minutes, but went 13-of-20 from the foul line to advance to Watertown.

Kelsey Hanson scored 16 points and Sam Ostarello added 12 points and nine rebounds for the winning Buffs.

Amanda Mentzer scored 21 points for the Rustlers, however no other Miller Area (16-7) player scored more than five points.

The Rustlers shot only 24 percent from the floor as they scored only five points in the fateful final fourth quarter.

Stanley County (19-4) will make its first appearance in the state Class A tournament since the 2001 season.

BOYS GAMES

DISTRICT 5B

MILLER - Lee Glanzer scored a game-high 27 points as James Valley Christian downed Highmore 59-54 in overtime to claim the District 5B championship.

The Crusaders led 11-6 after the first quarter and 25-14 going into the locker room. Highmore came out on fire in the second half to get within four points, 39-34, and tied the game 47-all at the end of regulation.

Justin Nihart scored seven of his 12 points, including a 4-for-4 performance from the free-throw line, in the overtime period to help the Crusaders.

Cole Hamlin paced the Pirates with 16 points and Tyler Wiesler and Dana Keller scored 11 points apiece.

James Valley Christian (17-5) recorded a 65-55 win over Highmore (14-8) in the regular season on Jan. 22.

The Crusaders will face the District 6B champion on Tuesday at the Barnett Center in Aberdeen.

DISTRICT 13B

MURDO - No. 5 White River, behind Louie Krogman's 40-point, outburst went on to defeat Jones County 72-61 in the District 13B championship game on Friday night.

The Tigers got out of the gate quickly, taking a 26-12 first quarter lead over their Western Great Plains rivals.

White River led 44-28 at the intermission.

The lead grew to 60-40 in the third quarter before the Coyotes cut the deficit in half in the final stanza.

Krogman, the state's all-time leading scorer, added to his impressive total as he now has racked up 3,376 points in his career.

Matthew Bartlett scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for White River.

Jones County (16-6) was led by Austin Koester, who posted a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

William White Buffalo and Andrew Bork added 10 apiece for the Coyotes.

White River (19-3) will play New Underwood in a rematch of last year's Region 7B title game on Tuesday night at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

The WGP conference foes last met on Feb. 23 with White River winning 59-42 in New Underwood.

The winner of that game gains a berth in the state Class B tournament in Aberdeen on March 13-15.

DISTRICT 14B

WALL - Cole Swanson scored all of his points in the fourth quarter and overtime, including a layup at the buzzer, as New Underwood picked up a 45-43 win over Wall in the District 14B championship game.

With three seconds left in the extra period, Jaron Finkbeiner received the inbounds pass at mid-court and threw it to Swanson who put up the shot as the clock expired.

"Both teams played extremely cautious with a lot of up and down emotions on both sides," Wall head coach Mark Ammann said.

"We missed a lot of shots that we normally would knock down. It was a roller-coaster."

Finkbeiner finished with a double-double for the Tigers, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Sidney Geigle had 19 points to lead Wall (11-11 overall) and Darick Eisenbraun added 11 points.

New Underwood (14-8) will face White River in the Region 7B championship game on Tuesday.

DISTRICT 15B

MOBRIDGE - Sheldon Weisbeck and Kyle Weisbeck scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, as Campbell County defeated Grand River 46-40 in the District 15B championship game.

The Express led 19-14 at halftime and 29-26 heading into the final stanza.

Grand River's Drew Seiler led all scorers with 23 points including five 3s. The Mustangs finish the season 12-11.

Campbell County (17-4) advances to face the District 16B champion Takini on Tuesday for the Region 8B title and a berth in the state B tournament.

DISTRICT 16B

LEMMON - Takini advanced to the region championship game after defeating Lemmon 53-45 for the District 16B title.

The Skyhawks outscored Lemmon 20-9 in the second quarter to take a 29-22 lead at intermission.

Eric Kills Crow netted 17 points to lead Takini.

Lemmon (13-9 overall) was led by Sheldon Froelich's 16 points and Chris Goldsmith's 14 points.

Takini (10-13) and Campbell County will meet Tuesday night in the Region 8B championship game.