Girls Basketball: Riders dominate second half, down Knights

With a 63.8 scoring average on the season, Grand Forks Red River felt short of its norm on Thursday.

But the Roughriders' defense more than made up for that.

Red River's girls basketball team held Grand Forks Central to a season-low point total as the Roughriders dominated the second half and pulled away to a 58-30 win at the Central High School gymnasium.

"We know we can do better than that offensively,'' said Red River coach Kent Ripplinger, whose team shot 35 percent from the field. "We had a hard time finishing plays.

"And our defense was OK in the first half. But we knew we could do better. And we played pretty well defensively in the second half.''

Red River allowed just seven second-half points after taking a 29-23 lead into intermission. The Knights had one field goal in the second half and seven for the game, shooting 18 percent from the field.

With Kenady Steffan getting five steals to lead Red River's pressure defense, Central turned the ball over 35 times.

"We got it done defensively in the second half,'' Ripplinger said. "We were keeping the ball in front of us, contesting shots and doing a better job of rebounding than we did in the first half.

"Kenady and Maggie (Steffen) up front really ignite us defensively.''

Red River broke the game open with a 10-0 run to start the second half. Jordyn Sondrol got the spurt going with a 3-point basket. Steffan scored four points on a pair of free throws and a layup off a Sondrol outlet pass in the run.

Red River also had 9-0 and 8-0 scoring runs in the second half to pull away.

Sondrol's 15 points led the Roughriders. Shelby Frank had a double double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, Steffen scored 10 and Steffan nine for the balanced Roughriders, who improved to 10-2.

Grace Gaustad and Korri Gust each scored nine to pace the Knights.

"We stuck to our game plan in the first half,'' Central coach D.J. Burris said. "But we were outplayed in the second half. They were the aggressive team; we were not.

"We did get off some decent shots. But nothing was going in. And we've had a couple of games like that, where we can't put the ball in the hoop.''

The loss dropped Central to 0-12.

1/2: Red River guard Kenady Steffan (#15) goes for a layup as Central's Haley Gereau tries to block her in the first half of Thursday's cross-town rivalry basketball matchup at Central High School. Nick Nelson / Grand Forks Herald

2/2: (From left) Central's Bailey Jaeger, Aubrea Lommen and Cassidy Kuntz fight for the basketball with Red River forward Shelby Frank (#42) on a rebound Thursday night at a cross-town rivalry game held at Central High School. Nick Nelson / Grand Forks Herald