Rockets fall short at Hoopster Classic

The New Rockford-Sheyenne Rockets girls' varsity and junior varsity teams competed in the annual Hoopster Classic in Minot on Thursday, December 28.

The junior varsity girls started the day off first, taking on the junior varsity team from Velva.

The Rockets kept up with the Aggies in the first half, with each team scoring 16 points. The Aggies fired up in the third quarter, scoring 11 points to the Rockets six.

And the fourth quarter went the same, with 11 points scored by the Aggies and only two for the Rockets.

The Aggies took the win 38-24.

Top scorers for the Rockets were Camebria Engels with six and Jaida Schumacher with five.

Next up was the varsity match up.

Unlike the junior varsity game, the Rockets went in with high momentum.

In the first quarter, the Rockets scored 11 points to the Aggies eight. The Rockets added on 12 more points in quarter two to take a 23-15 lead over the Aggies at the half.

However, the Rockets lost their momentum after halftime. The Aggies came out and scored 14 points in the third quarter to tie the game up at 29-29.

With the teamwork of Ava Peterson and Kelsie Belquist, they scored a total of 13 points in the fourth quarter. But the Rockets came up short to the Aggies' 18 points, taking a 42-47 loss.

K. Belquist led the Rockets in points with a total of 24, followed by Peterson with 11, Emmie Belquist with four and Kaiya O'Connor with three.

On the Aggies side, Natalie Nechiporenko held the most points with a total of 17. Anna Harden also scored in double digits for the Aggies with 10.

On Friday, January 5, the Rockets hosted the District 2, Region 4 competitors, the Benson County Wildcats.

The Rockets are set to host the Warwick Lady Warriors (A,B,JH) on Monday, January 8 starting at 4:30 p.m. and the Harvey/Wells County Hornets (A,B,JH) on Tuesday, January 9, also starting at 4:30 p.m.

All three of these games will be covered in the January 15 edition.

2023 Girls'

Hoopster Classic

NR-S 42, Velva 47

Thursday, Dec. 28

at Minot

NR-S: 11 12 6 13 - 42

Velva: 8 7 14 18 - 47

NR-S: Kelsie Belquist 24, Ava Peterson 11, Emmie Belquist 4, Kaiya O'Connor 3. Totals: 15 FG, 11-20 FT, 11 fouls. Fouled out: K. Belquist. 3-pointer: O'Connor 1.

Velva: Natalie Nechiporenko 17, Anna Harden 10, Kaylee Thompson 9, Olivia Miller 6, Evalyn Selzer 2, Lyla McCasson 2, Taryn Braaten 1. Totals: 19 FG, 6-12 FT, 17 fouls. Fouled out: McCasson. 3-pointers: Harden 2, Nechiporenko 1.

Junior Varsity

NR-S 24, Velva 38

NR-S: 6 10 6 2 - 24

Velva: 7 9 11 11 - 38

NR-S: Camebria Engels 6, Jaida Schumacher 5, Karsyn Wetzel 4, Addysen Fandrich 4, Tillie Swart 3, Paige Knatterud 2. Totals: 10 FG, 4-17 FT, 15 fouls. Fouled out: Engels.

Velva: Stats unavailable.