Welcome to our 2020-21 season preview series. This year we’ll start with the girls’ previews and we’ll drop our 2020-21 Preseason Power Rankings after we preview all eight Regions and then move into the boys’ previews. Every other day a Region preview will be published at nodakbasketballhub.com. You can also find all the previews under the 2020-21 Season Links tab on the home page of our website. 

Click here to find all the Region previews.

Also, here’s the schedule for the upcoming girls previews:

Region 4 – Sunday, Nov. 8
Region 5 – Monday, Nov. 9
Region 6 – Wednesday, Nov. 11
Region 7 – Friday, Nov. 13
Region 8 – Sunday, Nov. 15
2020-21 Preseason Power Rankings – Monday, Nov. 16

A fair amount of teams in District 5 lost some key pieces from its 2019-20 roster but a handful of talented student-athletes return. The top teams will be competitive with each other night in and night out, so it should make for an interesting season in District 5.

District 5 2019-20 record: 85-87

7. Barnes County North

2019-20 record: 2-18

Barnes County North struggled last season to score the basketball but the Bison bring back seven letter winners. Seniors Ashley McFadgen and Kendra Greshik highlight a roster that has a mixture of upperclassmen and underclassmen.

6. Griggs-Midkota

Griggs County Central and Midkota will join forces for the upcoming season in District 5. The co-op should help this team with its overall depth and give them versatility to compete. Senior Nicole Beckley and junior Emma Kollman are the leaders of this Titans team. Beckley averaged 6.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in 2019-20 and is has a strong post presence and the ability to fight for every rebound. Kollman averaged 7.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and added a team-high 11 3-pointers last season. She’s an overall team player with good court vision and strong defensive skills. The Titans will also add Josie Johnson (3.1 pp and 3.1 rpg) into the mix and will look for her to be much improved on offense this season. Griggs-Midkota has a strong upperclassmen group that also includes seniors Kennedy Hannesson and Lauren Zaun. The Titans need to work on cutting down the turnovers and team chemistry but they’ll have a strong post presence in 2002-21. The first-year of a co-op is always interesting, so look for this team to have some ups and downs throughout the upcoming season.

5. Edgeley-Kulm-Montpelier

2019-20 record: 11-12

Edgeley-Kulm-Montpelier is one of two teams in Region 3 that don’t have a senior on its roster. The Rebels bring back two upperclassmen, however, in juniors Emil Kinzler and Keyahna Musland. Kinzler averaged 4.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game last season, while Musland was a threat from beyond the arc. This young Rebels team will have to learn new roles in 2020-21 but should be able to win a few games with their athletic play alone. E-E-K also welcomes back a talented sophomore class that includes Norah Entzi (3.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg), Reagan Teske (2.2 ppg, 1.7 rpg) and Kijara Jangula (2.7 ppg, 1.6 rpg).This team has student-athletes that played some varsity minutes in 2019-20 but this year those role players will need to find ways to help the Rebels win games.

4. Ellendale

2019-20 record: 6-16

Ellendale brings some height to the court this season with four student-athletes coming in at 5-foot-8 or taller. The Cardinals saw injuries affect their season a bit in 2019-20 but that allowed some underclassmen to get playing time. With another offseason under their belts, those players like junior Jada Henningsen and sophomore Sara Young should be more developed as varsity players in 2020-21. Ellendale does bring back 12 letter winners from a year ago that includes Abigail Molan. Molan averaged 8.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game last season. Seniors Morgan Fischer (3.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg), Abigail Peterson (2.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg) and Chloe Bollinger (1.6) are also back this year and Ellendale needs all three of them to have strong seasons in 2020-21.

3. LaMoure-Litchville-Marion

2019-20 record: 21-7

Much like a lot of teams in District 5, LaMoure-Litchville-Marion lost some impact players from last season. The Loboes took sixth at the 2019-20 State Tournament and fortunately bring back a five student-athletes that saw some action in those three tournament games. Leading scorer Molly Musland is back for her junior season and had one of the better sophomore campaigns in Class B last season. The lockdown defender averaged 14.6 points and, 4.6 rebounds, 3.1 steals, 2.4 assists and drained 50 3-pointers. Musland can flat out score and should continue to make her name known through Class B this season. Junior Mollie Robbins (3.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg) showed strong play at times last year and will need to impact the game more offensively and defensively in 2020-21. It looks like 5-foot-8 junior Rose Wendel (1.3 ppg, 0.7 rpg) will take over the true point guard duties and has good ball handling skills to be successful in that role. Wendel will also have to be more of a scoring threat this season as well for L-L-M. The Loboes welcome back 10 letter winners and without a senior on the team, Mitch Carlson’s team has the talent to succeed this season but also grown into an even better squad for the future. Musland and company want to be in win now mode and they can be but they will need to find their identity this season.

2. Oakes

2019-20 record: 16-7

Oakes graduated six seniors from its 2019-20 roster but they bring back one of the top players in Class B with Sadie Hansen. Hansen was selected All-District last season and averaged 15.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.9 steals per game. She’s a do-it-all type of player and will be leaned on heavily in 2020-21. This Tornadoes team is interesting because they have two talented sophomores in 6-foot-0 Emma Muggli and 5-foot-10 Laikyn Roney. Roney averaged 5.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game as a freshman, while Muggli added 4.2 points and 2.6 rebounds per contest. Oakes has a nice 3-headed monster in Hansen, Roney and Muggli and will definitely mesh together well on the court. The Tornadoes will also have to get some solid play out of the student-athletes that were apart of the Oakes’ junior varsity team that lost just three games in the last two seasons. Even though Oakes will show its inexpereince at times, Hansen and head coach Brennan Hack will have this team ready to fight every night.

1. Carrington

2019-20 record: 20-4

Carrington enters the 2020-21 season as one of the more senior laden squad’s in District 5. The Cardinals welcome back All-District player in senior Hannah Hagel along with talented senior guard Lexi Page. Hagel averaged 13.1 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.8 assists last season. She’s one of the top players in the 2020-21 class and should have a strong season season for the Cardinals. Page is a 3-point threat and averaged 5.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in 2019-20. Page and senior Tessa Page combined for 28 3-pointers last season but Andy Braaten is going to need the both of them to be efficient from beyond the arc this season. The Cardinals also bring back a solid post presence in 5-foot-11 junior Sydnie Grager. Grager averaged 5.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 block per contest as a sophomore. Carrington will have a good mixture of experienced and underclassmen players that will have the opportunity to win a lot of games in 2020-21.