The offense starts with Ellie Ripplinger. All the senior has done this season is lead the Eastern Dakota Conference in scoring, score her 1,000th career point and become Grand Forks Red River's career scoring leader.
Then there is all-conference senior Nikki LaDouceur, an undersized but effective post player who consistently provides double-figure point totals.
They're the one-two punch for the Red River team that will compete in the North Dakota Class A girls high school basketball tournament, which begins Thursday in Bismarck. While Ripplinger and LaDouceur have been consistent, the unknown for the Roughriders is, from game to game, who will be a third scoring threat.
"When we have somebody besides Ellie and Nikki scoring in double figures, when we get a little more balance, that's good for the team," Red River coach Kent Ripplinger said. "Having that third scoring threat creates better scoring opportunities for everyone. It makes us a more dangerous team."
The record indicates the importance of the third scoring threat.
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Red River is 14-8 overall. When the Riders have had three or more players score in double figures, they're 5-1. When they've only had one or two double-figure scorers, the Riders are barely over the .500 mark at 9-7.
"We play better when we have a third player scoring," senior guard Payton Salquist said. "But it is what it is. We've had girls who have stepped up and gotten it done. But we definitely rely on Ellie and Nikki, probably too much. We know they're more consistent."
Ripplinger averages 19.9 points. The 5-foot-5 senior guard became the second Rider to reach the 1,000-point mark during last week's East Region tournament. She's currently at 1,022 points, surpassing the school record of 1,016 points that had been held by Andrea Kelly. The 5-8 LaDouceur averages 13.1 points and 6.8 rebounds.
"Nikki has a variety of different moves," Kent Ripplinger said. "That makes her effective against taller players. And she's aggressive. She has no fear. Ellie can score in multiple ways. She can take it to the basket, hit from 3-point range and hit pull-up jumpers from mid-range. Teams have to guard her everywhere on the court."
Salquist is at 7.1 points a game. No other Roughrider averages more than 4.3 points. But Salquist, Hannah Arason, Callie Carlson and Allison Hillebrand have had double-figure scoring games, and Keana Burr and Jennifer Trader have been just shy of double figures.
Still, the Riders have found enough offense to gain a state berth for the first time since 2010. And they've accomplished that while entering the season with a lot of question marks.
Ripplinger, LaDouceur and Salquist are the only players who saw extensive playing time last season. That trio and Kaitlin Anderson are the lone seniors on the team. And there isn't a lot of size; the 5-10 Anderson is the tallest player.
"Going into the season, I don't know if we thought we could get this far," Salquist said. "It's really exciting.
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"I couldn't imagine being done before the state tournament, like last year. That was hard."
Said Kent Ripplinger: "I thought we'd be competitive, that we had a shot at getting to state. I think we've exceeded expectations."
