Tribes Starts Season Hot With Third Win

Duo, Ronessa Sazue and Sapphire Lablanc, lead the charge for the Thunderbirds with a win over Dickinson State JV, moving their record to 3-1.

Sophomore, Tracelyn Strand, looks over the floor against a Dickinson State defender.

November 6, 2025

Being a rare Division II juco program, among Division I teams, in the Mon-Dak can present challenges. The United Tribes women's basketball team has found an early rhythm to start their season on a high note.

Led by strong starts to the season by Ronessa Sazue, Tracelyn Strand, Kaycee Desjarlais and Mandan product Sapphire LaBlanc — who had 20 points in a big win over Dickinson State at James Henry Gymnasium on Wednesday evening — the Thunderbirds have started the season 3-1.

"We're a Division II amongst a lot of Division I teams, so to hold our own and compete every night, that says a lot about our program and the path we've been on the last few years," United Tribes women's basketball coach Kelsey Peltier said. "It's nice we get some of these games, work hard, let's get a lead so we can start running and getting different rotations. We're building our confidence."

Heading to New Town to play in the Buster Gilliss tournament that begins the regular season for local juco teams can serve as a 'welcome to college basketball' moment for freshmen settling into two-year play. United Tribes fought through those early jitters to post a 2-1 record at this year's Mon-Dak preseason tournament, bracketing wins against Miles (quarterfinals) and Jamestown's JV team (third-place game) with a loss to Williston State in the semifinals.

"We were able to meet up with one of our conference rivals, Williston, in the semis, (the game was) back and forth, it was fun for us to battle them last season and this season," Peltier said. "We know we're right there with the top of the pack. We talked to our girls about not seeing losses, but learning. We found a lot of holes in our game we're going to tighten up."

Already having to ask one JV team to play to fill out the bracket with Bismarck State moving to four-year play, the Mon-Dak has more change coming in the future. The 2025-26 season will serve as NDSCS's final in the conference, and with two of the premier programs leaving the conference, there's a possibility for re-expansion with other programs.

"With BSC leaving this year for NAIA and Science heading out to the Minnesota conference next year, it'll look pretty different," Peltier said. "Those are two really quality ball teams, and now we're looking at who we will add next, and that's something we'll continue to explore. For now we're just going with the flow, not looking too far in the future, but it does change the dynamic of our conference for sure."

But with their early look at conference opposition concluded, a busy first week of the season — which continues over the weekend with a road trip to Montana — peaked on Wednesday with UTTC's first home game of the season against Dickinson State JV.

Led by a red-hot second half from LaBlanc, who had 14 of her game-high 20 points after the break, Tribes pulled away for a 75-55 win over the Blue Hawks' reserve squad.

"We came out with way better defensive intensity than we did this past weekend, and one of the big keys for us was pressure the ball, pressure the help side, and I thought we did well with that," Peltier said.

An up-and-down performance from the Thunderbirds' defense in New Town had Peltier wanting her squad to turn up the heat, and turn it up they did.

The Thunderbirds never allowed more than 20 points in a quarter, held the Blue Hawks to 21 points in the first half, and shut down a drive-heavy Blue Hawks offense from getting to their shooting spots.

"On the scout it was very drive-heavy, number three, Jaycee Hurley, we knew she liked to get the ball to the basket and we keyed on that," Peltier said. "We made that one of our goals, cutting off their drives and making sure our help side was there, and I thought we did a good job of that."

While LaBlanc heated up after intermission, a balanced United Tribes offense was led by Sazue in the first half. Making several contested buckets on the inside to reignite a stagnating Thunderbirds offense in the second quarter, Sazue finished with 10 points in the first half and 14 for the game.

"One of the main things we talked about is building our confidence, so with our freshmen, that's how it is, you have to build confidence," Peltier said. "I knew coming into this game if we could take care of business on the defensive side, we would have opportunities to build that confidence, and Sapphire rose to the occasion with that piece. (Sapphire) was six of eight from deep, that was a good spark out of halftime."

Along with her first-half offense, Sazue paired well with Mari Richards to headline UTTC's post defense. While Richards would eventually foul out in the second half, the duo combined for 15 rebounds, four of UTTC's five blocks, five of their eight steals, and made a smaller Dickinson State JV squad have to work their way to the hoop every time.

"We were really fortunate to get Mari, she really knows how to protect the basket," Peltier said. "She's got a lot of raw talent right now, so we have to hone in on the things she's good at. She fouled out of the game, and a lot of it was her not staying on her feet, even though she's the tallest person on the floor and doesn't need to jump. Ronessa and her were a lot of defensive pressure around the basket with their long arms."

While Richards would eventually foul out in the second half, the duo combined for 15 rebounds, four of UTTC's five blocks, five of their eight steals, and made a smaller Dickinson State JV squad have to work their way to the hoop every time.

Hurley and Elsie Wilson finished the game tied for the team lead in scoring for the Blue Hawks with 11 points apiece. Coral Old Bull just missed a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds. Elsie Wilson also chipped in nine points, four rebounds, two assists and a block for Dickinson State.

"Pre-game, we were talking about making quick rotations and making quick rotations when we weren't jumping to the ball," Peltier said. "Whenever those cutters were going, a big thing for us was covering up the back door and we got back doored a few times down in New Town and got back doored a few times here and that's when we had to do quick rotations, wake up a little, and keep the ball rolling."

The Thunderbirds don't get to enjoy home comforts for long. United Tribes will spend Friday and Saturday in Miles City, Mont., playing Gillette College and Northwest College from Wyoming.

"We love it, I tell my girls all the time that the best way to build chemistry is to do things together and traveling is one of them," Peltier said. "When you travel with someone, you get to know them. We're building team chemistry."

United Tribes 75, Dickinson State JV 55

Dickinson State JV 10 21 36 55

United Tribes 13 34 52 75

DICKINSON STATE JV — Jaycee Hurley 11, Elsie Wilson 9, Coral Old Bull 9, Savanna Anderson 9, Sloan Kinsey 6, Samantha Greff 6, Alexus Seymour 4, Julianna Feddes 2. Totals: 19-59 FG, Three-pointers: 6-19 (Old Bull 2, Kinsey 2, Greff 2), 12-16 FT, 35 Rebounds (Old Bull 12), 10 Fouls, 7 Assists (Wilson 2, Seymour 2), 3 Turnovers, 4 Steals (Hurley 2), 3 Blocks (Old Bull 1, Greff 1, Feddes 1).

UNITED TRIBES — Sapphire LaBlanc 20, Ronessa Sazue 14, Tracelyn Strand 11, Daye Makes Room For Them 9, Mari Richards 7, Alani Morin 5, Kaycee Desjarlais 4, Sandee Steele 3, Carlei Plainfeather 2. Totals: 30-64 FG, Three-pointers: 12-24 (LaBlanc 6, Strand 3, Sazue 2, Makes Room For Them 1), 3-8 FT, 45 Rebounds (Richards 8, Makes Room For Them 8), 16 Fouls (Richards), 13 Assists (Strand 4), 7 Turnovers, 8 Steals (Sazue 4), 5 Blocks (Richards 3).

Records: United Tribes 3-1; Dickinson State JV 2-1.