breck/Wahp split varsity border battle

jv boys combine for 173 points in a physical game

Jude Held (14) led the Cowgirls in scoring during their victory Saturday afternoon.

CLICK here for cowgirl video highlights

---

• By Robert Wanek Jr.

The Breckenridge/Wahpeton Border Battle didn’t disappoint this year, with high-scoring affairs across the board and successful fundraising efforts for Kenzie Christensen in her fight against cancer. The Twin Towns split varsity victories, while Wahpeton swept the junior varsity action, including a boys game with 173 combined points.

The Breck JV girls won 49-40, setting up a surprisingly competitive varsity tilt with a 2-13 Wahpeton team. Breckenridge won 72-60 with a balanced approach led by 18 points from Jude Held, 12 rebounds from Grace Conzemius, and eight assists from Carcie Materi. 

Materi has been on a tear lately as a distributor and scorer. Her eight assists followed a 20-point, four-assist outing at Frazee and six assists at Moorhead before that. Conzemius and Camryn Kaehler averaging over 20 combined rebounds per game has been the difference maker against undersized teams like Wahpeton. Ana Erickson made two threes in this one, including one in the late going to seal the deal. 

The defensive effort was gritty, with multiple charges taken by Victoria Undem and Abby Johnson. Breckenridge’s height on the glass led to a flurry of offensive rebounds that Wahpeton couldn’t overcome, despite a 17-point performance by McKena Koolmo, who consistently attacked Breck's bigs off the bounce.

Collin Roberts was clutch on Saturday for Breck JV, scoring six points in the final two minutes.

---

Ethan Manock nailed four threes in the JV game and recorded a monster block.

---

Anthony Conzemius took protecting the rim personal last night. Great effort from the Breckenridge senior □ pic.twitter.com/EnUzvTg9qh

— Breck Sports Talk (@BreckSportsTalk) February 7, 2021

---

The boys JV game was hotly contested from wire-to-wire. Breckenridge led 40-39 at the half after a Landon Blaufuss tip-in at the buzzer. Wahpeton’s biggest lead in the second half was 12, but the Cowboys made a fierce comeback led by the late game heroics of Collin Roberts. He buried a three to make the score 81-80, then converted a 3-PT play down low to cut the Huskies deficit again to 86-83 in the final moments.

It was Jack Johnson’s second-half defense that spurred the Cowboy comeback. He picked up four fouls in the first 18 minutes, but played nearly the entire second half without one, fouling out with hardly any time remaining. His late-game steal set up Roberts’ big three. Jacob Berndt buried a clutch three for Wahpeton with one minute remaining. When the dust settled, Wahpeton escaped with an 89-84 win led by Ethan Manock’s four 3-PT makes in the first half.

---

Cooper Yaggie attacks the basket against Jaxon Berndt. The two players put their teams on the board early.

---

Wahpeton came out firing in the varsity boys game, jumping out to a 31-18 lead behind a handful of stop-and-pop threes from Jaxon Berndt and Bridger Hansen. The latter made six shots from beyond the arc for 20 points, as Wahpeton converted 14 threes at a 56% clip. 

Breckenridge cut the lead to six at the half, chipping away at a 16-point deficit behind the dicing drives of Cooper Yaggie. He finished with a game-high 24 points. Adam Ohm sank two timely threes before the half, adding two more in the second half as Breckenridge desperately tried to throw water on the white hot Huskies.

Anthony Conzemius took protecting the rim personal, rising up for a two-handed block of Munezero Desire, one his five swats in the contest. Desire and his teammates went right back outside, as Tyler Tollefsen joined the three-point party to put the Cowboys away for good with a final score of 84-76. 

Jonah Christensen recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Cowboys. The Huskies placed six scorers in double figures. Hansen and Desire led the charge with 20 and 18 points, respectively. 

The Cowboys fall to 5-1 with the loss, while Wahpeton climbs to 8-8.