UTTC Claims Fourth Consecutive Region XIII Title

Sophomore, Tracelyn Strand, was named to the All-Region XIII Team, while teammate, Ronessa Sazue was named Most Valuable Player. Head Coach, Kelsey Peltier, named Region XIII Coach of the Year.

March 2, 2026

Josh Dungan, Bismarck Tribune

Outside of the final day of the Mon-Dak preseason tournament, United Tribes doesn't typically play Sunday games all that much.

One Sunday game the Thunderbirds have been all too happy to schedule the past few seasons is the NJCAA Division II Region XIII championship game, which has become a fixture of early March basketball at James Henry Gymnasium. This year's Region XIII championship game against Dakota College-Bottineau lacked much of the tension of past seasons, as UTTC rode a 19-0 run to the lead in the second quarter and sent the Lady Jacks packing with a dominant fourth quarter in a 95-59 win.

"We had a good game executing our gameplan, Bottineau over the course of the season has drastically improved and they're a gritty team so it was about getting defensive stops and executing offensive possessions," Thunderbirds head coach Kelsey Peltier said. "Overall we strung up enough runs on each side to pull off a win."

Courtesy of their regular season sweep against DCB, United Tribes only needed to play Sunday's championship game, while Bottineau had to survive a semifinal battle against Gogebic College that went to the wire. Knowing that the Lady Jacks were entering Sunday's game already tired from the day before, Peltier had her team playing their usual brand of up-tempo basketball in the expectation that DCB wouldn't be able to keep up forever.

"We wanted to take advantage of them having to play two games, we wanted to run them and we wanted to push the ball, push the ball," Peltier said. "They had to play that close game that came down to the wire, so them having to play twice was an advantage for us."

That plan would come to fruition early in the second quarter. Managing nothing more than tying the score twice in the first and within striking distance of the Lady Jacks in a 23-18 deficit, UTTC held DCB without a point for nearly five minutes of game clock, allowing the Thunderbirds to go on a 19-0 run.

UTTC scoring leader and tournament MVP, Ronessa Sazue, would put her stamp on the 19-0 run, scoring nine points in the burst with Tracelyn Strand (two), Sapphire Lablanc (six) and Carlei Plainfeather (two) contributing shots as well.

"Ronessa has really improved night and day and it's been such a beautiful journey to watch her grow into an all-around basketball player because I demand so much out of her," Peltier said. "Not just on offense with her scoring, but defense, her boxing out, rebounding, we don't win championships without kids like Ronessa. What's scary is she had 29 points and 15 rebounds and we had to sit her early with foul trouble, which was tough."

That run turned their five-point deficit into a 14-point lead, and while Bottineau would close within seven twice during the middle stages of the third quarter, that would be as close as the Lady Jacks would get.

"Coming into halftime, we said the third quarter we had to make sure we tightened up our fire and get the ball inside-out and getting defensive stops," Peltier said. "(After the second), we knew the third quarter would be the marking point, we had to have a good third quarter when we came out."

Also critical to United Tribes' push into the lead was figuring out how to slow down DCB leading scorer Jersey Vogel. Finishing with a team-high 24 points, 13 of which came in building that initial 23-18 lead for the Lady Jacks, Vogel was held to 11 points over the remaining 28 minutes of game clock.

"(Vogel) had 14 points at halftime, that was their one person we needed to make sure we had the clamps on," Peltier said. "She moves constantly, she's so good coming off screens, so we tried to contain her as much as we could. But if she's the only person that's scoring and we're containing everybody else, that's fine, we just want to make her work hard."

In past Region XIII title games, the fourth quarter has been a sweat-it-out moment for the Thunderbirds. Up 15 entering the final 10 minutes of game action, there was still an opportunity for the Lady Jacks to get back into the game if they could slow UTTC's offense. There would be none of that, as the Thunderbirds dominated the final 10 minutes to the tune of a 32-11 run, turning that 15-point advantage into a 36-point domination.

"We made them have to play defense, it's easy for us to sit outside and shoot threes but the other team doesn't really have to play defense (when we do that)," Peltier said. "What we wanted was attack, drive, attack, because that makes them be defensively sound and make rotations and once they make rotations, we hit the next open player and then the next. That worked, we kept sharing the ball, attacking, everything."

Sazue would add 20 points beyond her nine-point push during UTTC's lead-grabbing run in the second to finish with a game-high 29 points, adding 15 rebounds (also a game high) for a double-double. While not always a scorer for the Thunderbirds, Strand was an offensive sparkplug for UTTC on Sunday, finishing with 13 points, 12 assists and a pair of steals. "Coaches always develop close relationships with their point guards, and she's my right-hand girl, always next to me, taking things in, when things go bad for the team it's on her to pick it up," Peltier said. "I'm so tough on her but people don't see the defense or energy she brings, the things you can't see statistically, she brings them and she's developed into a beautiful style of playing."

Brooke Anderson had 11 points for DCB. Serinity Soland had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Carlei Plainfeather added 13 points for UTTC. Sandee Steele had 11 more off the bench.

"The biggest thing we valued was sharing the ball, we knew a double team was coming for Ronessa so the biggest thing was kickouts," Peltier said. "We're still learning that, but being unselfish was big. Carlei is such a workhorse on defense and we partnered her with Vogel early on and even though Vogel had her points, she made her work for all the points she had."

Tribes now awaits their coming district matchup, which has often proven the end of their season. But with her team still on the rise, Peltier is hoping that this year can extend to the national tournament as it has in the past.

"It'll be a good game next week, it's been nice to host (the tournament), but these are the moments you play for, the entire season, all the games you play, mean nothing until these moments and every year you want to be in these situations," Peltier said. "You want to be in those qualifiers to get to the dance and consistently being one game away, that speaks volumes to the culture and work the student-athletes put towards the team."