CARRINGTON (NewsDakota)- In a matchup between two of the top three teams in Class A girls basketball, the third-ranked Carrington Cardinals won their fifteenth consecutive game by closing on a 12-0 run to defeat the second-ranked Valley City Hi-Liners 44-34 on Friday night inside the East Gymnasium at Carrington High School.

The game started back-and-forth, with the two teams alternating man and zone defenses, but the inside game of Valley City (17-3) went head-to-head the three-point shooting of Carrington (17-3) as the Cardinals, thanks to three from downtown, led 14-12 after one.  In the second, the script flipped, as Kinslee Glandt, Maddy Frieze, and Skye Nielson all hit threes and the Hi-Liners led 26-24 at the break.

And then Carrington’s defense put the clamps on the game, even without one of their best defenders in Harper Kollman, who sat the game out through injury.

Valley City did not score until under 2:00 were left in the third quarter, but their defense allowed only one field goal, a Marah Johnson three and the visitors led 31-30 after three.  Maara Kutz scored on the interior to start the fourth and Mariah Frieze hit a three with 6:28 left to give Valley City a 34-32 lead.

They would not score again.

Johnson hit a three for a 35-34 lead, the ninth and final lead change of the game.  Aniston Hoornaert scored twice on basket cuts, and Johnson buried a dagger from the deep right wing corner as Carrington’s defense shut out Valley City the rest of the way and were greeted with a thunderous ovation as the buzzer sounded on the home season for Carrington.

The Hi-Liners have a first round bye in the Region 1A Tournament, and will face the winner of Oak Grove vs Central Cass on Tuesday, February 24th in a semifinal at 6pm on KOVC.

The Cardinals wrap up the regular season on Tuesday at Lisbon with coverage on KDAK The Cardinal beginning at around 6:45pm.

VC               12            14            5             3                     34

CHS            14            10            6            14                    44

VALLEY CITY (17-3): Katie Burchill 8; Maddy Frieze 6; Skye Nielson 6; Kinlee Sufficool 5; Mariah Frieze 3; Dacota Potratz 3; Kinslee Glandt 3

CARRINGTON (17-3): Aniston Hoornaert 16; Marah Johnson 15; Maara Kutz 7; Mya Neis 3; Sienna Topp 2; Jordyn Kollman 1

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