BISMARCK -- The hole Grand Forks Red River dug themselves into on Thursday was just too big to dig out of.
The Roughriders fell to Bismarck Century 52-38 in the quarterfinals of the North Dakota state Class A girls basketball tournament at Exhibition Hall.
Thursday didn't start well for Red River. The Roughriders shot 15.8 percent from the field (3-for-19) in the first half and trailed the No. 2-ranked Patriots 26-9 at halftime.
"We scored nine points in the first half," Red River head coach Kent Ripplinger said. "We were OK giving up 26, but we weren't OK with only scoring nine points. I think it had to do with us feeling a little rushed and we missed a couple early shots. We got some looks they just didn't fall."
All-Eastern Dakota Conference guard Ellie Ripplinger was held to two points in the opening half. Ripplinger finished with eight points, well below her 20.8 points per game average.
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"Ashley (Bohrer) did a nice job guarding her," Century senior forward Hannah Larson said. "I think (Ripplinger) only had two points in the first half. Shutting her down was big."
The No. 2-ranked Patriots (20-3) are the defending Class A state champions and will play No. 1-ranked Fargo Shanley at 1 p.m. Friday in the semifinals at the Bismarck Civic Center main arena.
Red River (14-9) advances to play Mandan in the consolation semifinals at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Exhibition Hall.
"Defense was our big thing coming into this game," said Larson, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. "They have two or three girls that usually score in double figures so our goal was to shut them down and make other girls on their team beat us."
The Roughriders opened the second half with a 10-3 run. Rippling got a jumper to fall just under 15 minutes remaining in regulation that cut the Patriots' lead to 29-19, but Red River never got closer than 10 points the entire second half.
"In the second half once we settled down we started making shots and all of a sudden we were rolling," Kent Ripplinger said.
Red River's Payton Salquist sprained her ankle in the second half and did not return. Ripplinger said Salquist will be a game-time decision in the consolation semifinals game.
Nicole LaDouceur scored 12 points to lead Red River and Jennifer Trader added 11.
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Macy Lynch posted a double-double for the Patriots finishing with team highs in points (11) and rebounds (10).
