IPSWICH – Aberdeen Roncalli used something familiar to experience something new Thursday night in Ipswich.

The top-rated Cavaliers turned to its defense to help fuel a 54-23 girls’ basketball win over Bison and qualify for their first ever trip to the State B Tournament next week.

Roncalli won the Class A state championship last season before dropping down to Class B for this season. Interestingly enough, this year’s State B tourney will be in Watertown, site of last year’s State A event.

“The venue is the same. We’re going to play the same way,” said Roncalli coach Derek Larson. “The difference is now we’re the one seed and everyone is hunting us, rather than us playing the underdog role. That will be the difference for us playing that first game. We haven’t played that one before. Again, glad to be back where we’re at.”

Roncalli got off to a rough start against Bison. Known for their stout defense, the Cavaliers let their foes get open shot attempts and led by just two points following the first eight minutes.

“The second and third quarter we really defended well. We didn’t do a lot of things right in the first quarter, especially defensively,” Larson said, “giving up a wide-open three on a kick out when we shouldn’t go double, letting people get to their strong-side hand, we just didn’t play very smart. Maybe we were too keyed up to start the game, I’m not sure. We didn’t do a lot of things right, but after that, we really buckled down the second quarter, gave up two points.”

Larson got his players’ attention between the first and second quarters and the Cavaliers buckled down after that.

“We kind of got grilled between the first and second quarter on our defense. It wasn’t very good,” said Roncalli senior Madelyn Bragg. “He just said if you play the right defense it will come on offense. We’re a team that prides itself on defense and when we don’t play defense as well as we should, it’s kind of disappointing, so we all knew we had to step up and play.”

Bison scored the first two points of the second quarter to tie the score and the Cardinals would not score again until midway through the third period. By then, Roncalli had rattled off 28 unanswered points to take total control.

The Cavaliers got out in transition, worked the ball inside and stepped up their defense.

“Once we got Morgan (Fiedler) in transition and did some of those things, created some defensive opportunities to offensive opportunities, we looked much better,” Larson said.

Bragg led the Cavaliers with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Included in her night’s work was scoring her 1,000th career point.

“I had no idea at all,” Bragg said of her milestone moment.

She was recognized following the contest.

“It’s something that I wanted to get from the moment I started varsity basketball,” Bragg said. “It’s always been a goal for me.”

Bragg now ranks fifth all-time on Roncalli’s girls’ basketball scoring list behind Mollie Karst, Jami Ewart, Mariah Winegar and Grace Imbery.

Larson said it has been a luxury to have Bragg on the squad.

“Its pretty nice when you have 6-2 standing in the middle on both ends of the floor,” Larson said. “She just does so many things that don’t even show up in the box score, affecting shots and tipping balls. We’ve never had a 6-2 post player before and who knows if I ever will again.”

Fiedler added 12 points to the Roncalli total and Olivia Hanson followed with 10.

The Cavaliers, 22-1 on the season, head into the State B tourney (March 10-12) as the number one seed and will face Viborg-Hurley at noon on Thursday.

Roncalli has qualified for the last four State A tournaments.

“I don’t really have any expectations yet, of course I want to go win another one,” Bragg said. “When you qualify for State A’s that many years in a row, you kind of play the same teams every time, but it’s going to be fun to get out and play new teams.”

BISON (10-14): Taylor Thompson 0 2-2 2, Jayda Seim 2 1-2 6, Alexia Donovan 2 0-0 4, Abigayle Thompson 3 3-3 9, Jozi Schuchard 1 0-0 2, Julia Carmichael 0 0-1 0. Totals 8-36 6-10 23.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (22-1): Jeci Ewart 2 0-0 5, Madelyn Bragg 9 0-0 18, Allie Morgan 1 0-0 2, Morgan Fiedler 5 1-1 12, Olivia Hanson 3 4-4 10, Ella Hanson 1 0-0 2, Ava Hanson 0 1-2 1, Maddie Huber 1 0-0 3. Totals 22-60 6-7 53.

Bison 11 13 16 23

Aberdeen Roncalli 13 31 48 54

3-point field goals – Seim; Ewart, Fiedler, Huber. Total fouls – Bison 8; Aberdeen Roncalli 11. Rebounds – Bison 30 (T. Thompson 6, A. Thompson 6); Aberdeen Roncalli 38 (Bragg 10). Turnovers – Bison 22; Aberdeen Roncalli 7. Assists – Bison 6; Aberdeen Roncalli 16 (Ewart 3, Morgan 3). Steals – Bison 2; Aberdeen Roncalli 13 (Fiedler 3).