Brianna Beecher is one of the best players in North Dakota Class B volleyball.

The senior from Hazen recorded more than 3,000 career assists from her setter position, set a number of single-season and career school records, and earned all-state honors last fall. In four seasons, she helped the Bison win more than 120 matches.

There is one thing missing from her resume, though - a state tournament. Beecher came close last fall, but the Bison fell to Dickinson Trinity in the Region 7 title match.

"That was a big disappointment," Beecher said. "I have school records, I played on really good teams, and I had the best teammates ever. We all wanted to go to the state tournament so bad, and we were good enough to go. We were close, but it just didn't happen for us."

It did happen for Beecher and the Hazen girls basketball team, however. The Bison downed Trinity 63-51 in the Region 7 tournament final last Thursday to earn their first state tournament berth since 2004. Beecher is the starting point guard for a team that is 23-0 and ranked No. 1 in Class B girls basketball.

"It's really exciting. A lot of the girls on our team are volleyball players, too, so we're feeling some redemption," Beecher said. "It's so unbelievable the way things have gone this year. To get this far and not lose a game is quite an accomplishment. Now we're hoping for a really big finish."

Beecher is the only senior on the Bison roster, and first-year head coach Leland Opp said he couldn't have asked for a better leader on or off the court.

"Brianna is someone who is so positive and so helpful," he said. "She's so good with the kids, and she was the same way in volleyball. She gets everyone fired up, and she also gives us a calming presence. When the pressure's on, she takes over and settles things down."

Beecher's athletic skills help fuel the Bison offense and defense.

"Brianna is a very good defender, and she's an excellent ballhandler and passer," Opp said. "She sees the court so well, and she does a great job finding the open players and getting them the ball. She runs the show for us at both ends of the court."

Beecher, who averages 6.5 points, 2.5 steals and 3.0 assists per game, said the point guard is much like the setter in volleyball.

"They're the playmakers," she said. "They get things going and get things set up. It's their responsibility to get the ball to the point-scorers. We have lots of point-scorers on our (basketball) team."

Beecher quarterbacks a well-balanced offense. Juniors Stef Bohrer and Allison Opp average 15.7 and 13.0 points per game to lead the team, but the Bison have at least five other players who are capable of scoring in double figures on any given night. For example, Kate Berg is averaging 6.1 points per game, but the junior tossed in a career-high 20 in a 67-60 win over Trinity in the District 14 final. Freshman Paige Burling, a 5.2 points-per-game scorer, came off the bench to score 13 points in the region title game.

Breaunna Oakland, Jenna Maas and Sarah Grimm average 7.1, 5.7 and 2.9 points, respectively. Developing a balanced attack was one of Opp's goals.

"We wanted to make it as tough on our opponents as possible. We weren't going to rely on just one or two players for most of our scoring," the Hazen coach said. "From the beginning, I stressed that everyone I put on the court would be a threat to shoot the ball and score. It's been that way, especially the last month or so. Our leading scorer averages 10.5 shots a game, and our fifth-best scorer averages seven. That's the kind of balance we were shooting for. We've had several different kids step up at different times this year."

Developing a strong defense was Opp's top priority. The Bison have allowed only 43.1 points per game, and average 20 steals.

"I've always felt that defense is the foundation of winning," Opp said. "We spent a lot of time working on different defensive schemes, and it's paying off. Defense can affect the way you play offense. If you play rock solid defense, you seem to execute better on the offensive end."

With four starters back from a 12-9 2007-08 team, the Bison had high expectations going into the season. But Beecher said no one on the team expected a 23-0 record and a No. 1 ranking at this juncture.

"We felt we were capable of winning our district and region, but going undefeated with the schedule we had is really surprising," she said. "Early on, we didn't think about going undefeated. We just took it one game at a time. Then when we got to like 15-0, we thought, 'Hey maybe we can pull this off.' The pressure got to be more intense because we knew teams were going to give it everything they had to beat the No. 1 team in the state. But it's a good kind of pressure. It pushes us to work that much harder. We came out of a very tough district and region. We feel prepared for state."