Division AA girls defeat Division A/B to win 48th Lions All-Star Series – Grand Forks Herald

FARGO — The Division AA girls completed the Lions All-Star Series sweep on Tuesday night by defeating the Division A/B girls 83-60 at Fargo South High.

The AA team opened the attack and led 21-2 in the first eight minutes thanks to nine points from Ashton Safranski of Fargo Davies and seven from Jocelyn Schiller of Grand Forks Red River, the winner of the 2024 North Dakota Miss Basketball.

West Fargo Sheyenne’s Brenna Dick, Red River’s Rylie McQuillan and Minot’s Jayden Wiest also scored during the run.

David Samson/The Forum

Schiller led AA with 25 points, while Safranski finished with 16.

“We just wanted to go out there, have fun and play to our strengths,” Schiller said. “I think we did a really good job of that the last two days to come away with the win.”

From the first practice meeting to the double wins, the opportunity to come together with some of the state’s best players to play on the same team was exciting, Schiller said.

“We’ve played against each other for so long, ever since we were young,” she said. “Playing together was so much fun. The last five days have been so much fun getting to know everyone so much better.”

David Samson/The Forum

Ashton Safranski thought the same as Schiller.

“It’s so much fun,” Safranski said. “Of course it’s great to win and play with these other good girls, it’s just fun to play with them.

“It’s so special to be able to play with the girls that I’ve played against my whole career. Being able to play with them and not have to guard them was also fun.”

David Samson/The Forum

While it was the first time for many of the players to join forces, it was also the last time Ashton and mother Tonah competed together as player and coach.

“It was so special,” Ashton said. “To be able to play with her this last season and then those two extra games, it was really special.”

David Samson/The Forum

Tonah Safrankski said the last two games together were an experience they won’t soon forget.

“It was so much fun,” Tonah Safranski said. “That’s really cool to be able to remember that for years to come. It was so cool to have that time together, not only as a mother and daughter, but as a player and a coach.”

David Samson/The Forum

Tonah Safranski said she hopes the joint Lions weekend helped build lasting relationships within the AA team.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these girls,” she said. “Hopefully they’ve made some lifelong friends and they can follow each other and get together in the future and hang out and remember what they’ve done over the course of these two games.”

Bismarck’s Jersey Berg also scored in double figures for AA with 10 points.

May-Port-CG’s Rylee Satrom led Division AB with 14 points, while Edgely-Kulm-Montpelier’s Mataeya Mathern had nine points and Bowman County’s Jaci Fischer had seven.

AA — Schiller 25, Safranski 16, Berg 10, Wiest 9, Rood 7, Dick 5, McQuillan 5, Peterson 4, Bogner 2.

A/B — Satrom 14, Mathern 9, Fischer 7, Erbele 6, Simpson 5, Wood 5, Boyce 5, Olson 4, Schwabe 2, Zerface 2, Johnson 1