Del Norte girls win district crown, boys finish second

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In the 2A district tournament eight teams from five schools duked it out for district supremacy.

Thursday night Del Norte’s girls took down Custer County in a 70-36 game. The Tigers would trail Custer County at the half but a strong third quarter would help them take the lead back. Kendra Parra polished things off with a nine-point fourth quarter. Parra was Del Norte’s leading scorer adding 20 points to the Tigers’ total.

Sanford girls slipped by Sargent by a score of 29-25. Sanford was led by Mackenzie Peterson and Taylor Larson, both girls registering nine points each. In a game that was back and fourth Sanford found an edge in the third quarter. Both teams slowed after the break with Sanford getting five points and Sargent failing to register any.

That quarter would be the Farmers undoing as four points decided the game. Sargent junior Lainie Dillon led the Farmers in scoring with eight points getting six of those from the free throw line.

On the boys' side of things, nothing changed in the win columns. Del Norte made sure not to underestimate Center this time around barreling through the Vikings in a 70-36 game. For Del Norte Izeah Chillson-Peterson took the pressure off Carlos Parra by having his best game of the recorded season with 25 points. Parra still got his points registering 18 of his own as the Tigers rolled to into the district championship.

While Sanford’s boys also prevailed over the Farmers in a 50-45 affair. Sanford had a fight on their hands given that a point separated the two teams after one, the Indians leading 11-10. In the second quarter the Farmers slowed to a crawl with all three of the teams points coming from Ryan Davis. Davis was second on the team in scoring with nine points.

The Farmers would strike back in the third with 15 points. Eddie Gonzalez would lead the Farmers with 10 points. Even outscoring the Indians in the third wasn’t enough to make up for Sargent’s ineffective second quarter. Maguire Peterson would score 13 points leading Sanford to the win and the district championship game.

 

Championship games

Saturday saw Del Norte and Sanford meet up in both the boys’ and girls’ district championships. First up were the girls. In their solo matchup it was Del Norte with a win, 43-40. The Tigers looked to repeat history and were successful. The two teams played a tight game until the fourth quarter. The first quarter shown a tied score and the half revealed a 2-point advantage for Del Norte.

Tiger Kendra Parra collected 10 points in the first half. Parra would score 17 more in the second half for a dominating performance leading the Tigers with 27 points. In the fourth is where Del Norte separated themselves turning a two-point lead into a six-point win. For Sanford it was Mackenzie Peterson leading the team with 11 points.

The final event of the night was the Del Norte boys meeting Sanford’s boys. This would be the third meeting between the two teams for the 2018 season. The first two yielded a split. Del Norte didn’t gain an auspicious start on Saturday night as head coach Mike Glover technical fouled out of the game three-and-a-half minutes into the game. An 18-point start for the Indians began to put the Tigers in an early grave. Kylan Anderson of Sanford came up big with 11 first quarter points.

Sanford would close their night on a positive note with two scorers breaking double digits. Anderson and Zach Sittler tied for the team lead with 13 points each. Del Norte didn’t begin their upswing in the first half as Niclo Cisneros also fouled out of the game. By the half Sanford owned a comfortable 33-21. Del Norte would find some rhythm in the third and doubled the Indians up with a 12-6 third quarter to close the gap to 6 points.

They could not keep pace however and Sanford would add another district title to their already impressive resume.