Mike Kraft/MDN
Minot North’s Cambree Phillips makes an attempt to cross the ball off to Elli Laskowski whereas being defended by Mandan’s Sierra Gustavsson (5) and Hadley Harris throughout the first half of a WDA sport on Friday, Jan. 2.
The Minot North ladies basketball crew couldn’t have envisioned a extra turbulent begin to the 2026 portion of its schedule.
The Sentinels returned to convention play with an 87-52 loss to fifth-ranked Mandan on Friday, Jan. 2, however that arguably wasn’t even the worst side of the evening.
That got here with 8:41 remaining within the first half when sophomore ahead and main scorer Elli Laskowski left the sport after struggling an elbow injury. Laskowski suffered the injury after drawing a foul on Mandan’s Alli Reiner whereas driving to the basket. The foul itself didn’t trigger the injury, however her momentum carried her into the wall, the place she believed she hyperextended the elbow, forcing her out of the sport.
Laskowski stated she felt a capturing ache undergo her elbow after contacting the wall. She was unable to shoot the continuing free throws consequently. Jazlynn Sweet took her spot on the free-throw line. Laskowski felt just like the crew was holding its personal in opposition to the fifth-ranked Braves on the time.
“I thought we were moving the ball well and getting through the press and keeping at pace with them,” Laskowski stated.
Laskowski left the sport with the Braves in entrance 25-18. She had the majority of her crew’s factors at that juncture with 11. She entered the sport averaging 31.6 factors per sport, hitting the 30-point mark in 4 of her first 5 video games.
“She’s a big part of what we like to do and she’s always given us her best effort picking up teammates, doing those little things for us and creating opportunities for other kids,” Minot North coach Justin Lauf stated. “When you lose something like that, which is a big piece of what you’ve done and what you’re doing, it changes a lot.”
The Braves (6-0 total, 3-0 WDA) closed out the ultimate 8:41 of the primary half outscoring the Sentinels (3-3, 1-2) by 9 to construct a 43-27 lead on the intermission. With the 5-foot-10 ahead on the bench, Minot North had a major peak drawback within the paint, having to deal with AnnaClaire Bugbee (6-2) and Reiner (6-1).
Bugbee poured in a game-high 29 factors and Reiner netted 14 of her 17 factors within the second half. Bugbee scored 12 of Mandan’s 18 first-half factors following Laskowski’s exit.
“We feel good about our bigs inside,” Mandan coach Tanner Purintun stated. “We want to play through our bigs. We have very capable guards that can hit shots and make plays, but we try to establish our post game and inside presence every game, so they’ve been doing that for us all season. They’ve been having solid games for us, so we expect that from them and they proved it tonight that they are capable of doing it.”
Bugbee and Reiner did their harm on the within, however Mimi McAllister supplied the offense from the perimeter. She knocked down a game-high 5 3-pointers for a 23-point evening.
“We just played team ball,” Bugbee stated. “We came out of the winter break knowing we wanted to be a different team and share the ball all the way around and I think that’s what we did.”
Eight gamers scored factors for the Braves.
Laskowski stated she hoped to return to the sport, however realized it wasn’t to be when her elbow grew stiffer over time regardless of fixed icing to the realm. She didn’t participate in warmups popping out of halftime and remained on the bench all through the second half.
The Braves took full benefit, opening the half on a 21-4 run to construct a 64-34 lead with 11:20 remaining. Even with Laskowski out of the lineup, Mandan stored the established order, making use of heavy stress within the backcourt with their press and being aggressive on the glass and grabbing offensive rebounds for further possessions.
“She’s a real nice player, but a lot of what we do is focusing on us and our press and our pressure and that was going to be the same regardless,” Purintun stated. “We were going to press and we were going to try and pressure Minot North and try to speed them up a little bit. Obviously she’s a talented player, so it’s more difficult when she’s in the game, but our gameplan stayed the same.”
Despite the consequence, the Sentinels had gamers step up to fill new roles in Laskowski’s absence. Eighth grader Cambree Phillips – second on the crew in scoring at 17.2 factors per sport – led the Sentinels with 16 factors.
“I’m going to have to do a lot more and be one of the better ones and try and make other people score and score myself, too, ” Phillips stated. “I was driving to the basket and trying to use as many moves as I can to get open looks.”
Phillips scored 13 of her factors post-injury.
“Cam’s a warrior, “Lauf said. “For her being just an eighth grader, she doesn’t play like an eighth grader. I was proud of that kid going hard and giving effort. We have to keep building, keep using those pieces to hopefully play our best basketball in February and March.”
Kinzy Welstad added 13 factors – all within the second half – and Brynn Francis chipped in 9.
Lauf and the remainder of the Sentinels are optimistic that the injury isn’t too severe and that they may have Laskowski again within the lineup sooner relatively than later, however will know extra concerning the extent of the injury within the coming days. They are simply hoping this isn’t an omen of what 2026 will proceed to deliver.
“It’s hard for it to be your night when you lose a kid that averages 30 a game, so it’s really hard to replace that, but there is some resiliency to be said for kids that had to step into roles they don’t normally play,” Lauf stated.
Minot North performs at Bismarck Century on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 6 p.m.