St. Mary's girls basketball coach Corey Frink would always like to see post Kylie Messer be this aggressive.

The Williston Coyotes got a strong dose of what Messer can do in the blocks Saturday. Messer poured in 24 points and snagged 15 rebounds in a 62-49 victory over the Coyotes at the St. Mary's gym.

The Williston boys rolled over St. Mary's 84-42.

Messer beat the Coyotes with her court savvy and nifty moves. She hit turnaround jumpers, she attacked the basket and she scored from the foul line.

The 5-foot-11 junior finished the day 10 of 18 from the field and 4 of 8 from the charity stripe.

"When we get our inside and outside game going everything opens up for us,"Messer said. "If Kelsy Power or Josie Reiner have the ball, and they see that big white jersey right there, they'll just get it to you."

See Saints, Page 6D

It was the first West Region win for the Saints, who improved to 1-4 in the conference and 3-5 overall.

Williston dropped to 0-5 in the region and 1-6 overall.

Messer helped get the Saints going in the first half with 13 points and nine boards.

"It's nice to establish the inside game first, if you're able to do that"Frink said. "Kylie did a good job of wanting the basketball, which I have to battle sometimes with her on her aggressiveness. That's a hurdle we want her to jump over."

The Saints built their lead and protected it. They led by double digits the entire second half except for one possession.

Williston forward Shannon Fee netted a 3-point from the right wing at 5:50 to cut the lead to 50-41.

But Power answered with a short jumper at 5:30 to put the Saints up by double digits for good.

Power finished the contest with 14 points, including three 3s, and five assists. Post Stephanie Mahrer added 10 points and five assists.

The Saints squandered a lead against Turtle Mountain earlier this season. For Messer, it was important that the Saints not do it again.

"In other games we just go really hard,"Messer said. "Sometimes I think we work too hard, and it slips away from us. If they made a basket we just tried to get into our game or get a defensive stop."

Fee led Williston with 13 points. Jamie Njos added 12 and Chelsea Hicks 10.

WILLISTON (49):Rachel Fearing 1-8 1-1 3, Gracia Black 1-10 0-0 2, Chelsea Hicks 4-7 2-4 10, Jamie Njos 5-14 2-2 12, Shannon Fee 4-9 4-7 13, Abby Hagen 2-5 0-0 4, Kayla Kain 2-7 1-2 5, Casondra Kleven 0-1 0-0 0. Totals:19-61 10-16 49.

ST. MARY'S (62):Josie Reiner 2-8 1-2 5, Kelsy Power 4-10 3-5 14, Meagan Loomis 0-4 0-0 0, Stephanie Mahrer 4-8 2-3 10, Kylie Messer 10-18 4-8 24, Emily Becker 1-2 0-0 2, Anna Bury 0-3 0-0 0, Morgan Tescher 3-5 1-4 7, Brittany Wolf 0-0 0-0 0. Totals:24-58 11-22 62.

Halftime score: SM 31, Williston 21.

3-pointers:Williston 1 (Fee), SM 3 (Power 3). Rebounds:Williston 45 (Black 9), SM 46 (Messer 15). Assists:Williston 18 (Black 6), SM 23 (Reiner 6). Steals:Williston 12 (Black 3, Fee 3), SM 13 (Loomis 4). Turnovers:Williston 14, SM 13. Fouls:Williston 19, SM 15. Fouled out:Williston, Njos, Fee.

Williston 84, St. Mary's 42

Williston head coach Mark Slotsve talked about how his team's perimeter play was the Coyotes' downer last season.

The No. 1-ranked Coyotes lit it up from beyond the arc with 10 3-pointers on Saturday. Tanner Goldade drained half of them, include back-to-back triples to start the contest.

"Last year we couldn't buy a bucket on the perimeter most games,"Slotsve said. "It's not a surprise to me. I know the kids we have out there this year are scorers."

Williston improved to 5-0 in the region and 6-1 overall. St. Mary's dropped to 0-4 in the region and 1-6 overall.

While St. Mary's defended well in the post in the first half, the Coyotes used a mixture of inside-outside play in the second. Williston looked sharp in the final half, compared to a lackluster start.

"Part of it was that we played last night and traveling on the road," Slotsve said. "You hate to use that as an excuse. But it seemed like we were a step or two steps slower. We made careless mistakes and careless fouls."

Centers Jordan Schmitz and Brian Qvale paced Williston with 21 and 16 points respectively. Goldade added 17.

"Ithought the kids executed the game plan pretty well on the offensive end in the first half," St. Mary's head coach Kent Schweigert said. "There were a few times we lost track of their shooters. Williston turned it up a notch in the second half, and we didn't match that. We didn't execute as well and we weren't as aggressive."

St. Mary's was led by Andy Yantes' 12 points.

Williston build an 11-2 advantage at 16:08 of the first half and never relinquished the lead.

WILLISTON (84): Karson Wigness 2-3 0-2 4, Brett Colebank 3-7 0-0 8, Tanner Goldade 6-11 0-0 17, Brian Qvale 5-7 6-9 16, Jordan Schmitz 8-8 5-7 21, Cameron McFarlin 1-1 0-0 3, Jordan Braun 2-5 0-0 6, Alex Mock 0-0 0-0 0, Brad Johnson 0-3 0-0 0, Taylor Grundstad 0-1 1-1 1, Mike DeLorme 0-1 0-0 0, Doug Richter 0-1 0-0 0, Zack Eiken 1-1 0-0 2, Brent Qvale 3-3 0-1 6. Totals: 31-52 12-22 84.

ST. MARY'S (42):Tom Welk 0-2 0-0 0, D.J. Schmitz 4-11 1-3 9, Andy Yantes 4-8 4-4 12, Eric Leet 3-6 1-1 7, Adam Tescher 3-7 0-0 7, Matt Weber 1-4 2-2 4, Jon Herold 0-3 1-2 1, Matt Chuppe 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Richter 0-1 0-0 0, Tanner Harris 0-2 0-0 0, Doug Krebs 0-0 0-0 0, Cordell Schmitz 0-0 0-1 0, Alex Wirth 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 16-48 9-13 42.

Halftime score:Williston 44, SM 26

3-pointers:Williston 10 (Goldade 5, Colebank 2, Braun 2, McFarlin 1), SM 1 (Tescher 1). Rebounds:Williston 33 (Bri. Qvale 5, Bre. Qvale 5), SM 30 (Welk 7). Assists:Williston 26 (Wigness 6, Colebank 6), SM 12 (Herold 5). Steals:Williston 7 (Johnson 2), SM 3 (three with one). Turnovers:Williston 5, SM 14. Fouls:Williston 15, SM 18. Fouled out:None.