E/K-M Rebels open Stutsman tourney with 79-17 win over Warwick

Dec. 8—JAMESTOWN — In the opening game of the Stutsman County Tournament, the Edgeley/Kulm-Montpelier started strong and carried a big defensive effort to a 79-17 win over Warwick on Thursday, Dec. 8, at the Jamestown Civic Center.

"I don't know if (our defense) was great but it was good," Rebels head coach Rory Entzi said. "It was what we tried to do the whole game, is pressure the ball. So, how we do it, we try to do different ways. I told them I was proud of them because I thought we tried to play defense for the whole 32 minutes.

The first forty-five seconds of the first quarter were properly indicative of the way the game went as the tip was won by the Rebels (2-0) and Kiara Jangula sprinted into the paint and hit the layup to put her team up 2-0. As the Lady Warriors (2-2) got the ball in on the inbounds pass, the Rebels got the tie-up and forced a Lady Warriors timeout. The Lady Warriors ended the run when Cadence Feather went to the line and hit both free throws to cut the deficit to 14-2 with three minutes to go in the quarter.

The Lady Warriors got their first field goal when Chayanne Touche hit the layup to cut the deficit to 27-4 with just over six minutes to go in the first half.

The Rebels started the second half with their starters in and it showed as they were able to stretch the lead out as they hit their first shot early in the quarter on a layup from Mataeya Mathern to make it 43-6. That started a second half in which they outscored the Lady Warriors 36-9.

"We came out there strong and we did put a statement out there," Mathern said. "But it's early and I think we just have to take it one game at a time."

After this game, Lady Warriors head coach Jimmy Day said his message to his team was a realistic one.

"I said, 'we were gonna come and get a licking. We were gonna lose', I told them but I want to have the score a little better," Day said. "I told them this is the practice we have. We have 11 girls, so let's take the second half and do a practice. They're going to press us, so we have to practice doing that. Langdon does that to us, Four Winds does that to us. After our tape is out a lot of teams are going to try to do that to us."

The Lady Warriors are back in action at 3 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 9, when they take on Ellendale. The Rebels return to the court at 6 p.m. on Dec. 9, when they take on Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter.

WHS 17, E/K-M 79

WHS: 2 4 6 5 — 17

E/K-M: 23 20 19 17 — 79