By Tom Mix
NDHSAA Media Specialist

VALLEY CITY, N.D. – Earlier this season Minot High junior forward Leelee Bell joined the exclusive Class A/Division AA High School Girls Basketball 2,000-point Club and after she hit that milestone talk quickly shifted to whether or not she’d become the Class A/Division AA all-time leading scorer before the close of the 2024-25 season.

Entering the 2025 NDHSAA Division AA Girls Basketball State Tournament set for March 13-15 in Fargo, Bell is just 40 points shy of breaking the current Class A/Division AA all-time scoring record of 2,371 points held by 2016 Fargo Shanley graduate Sarah Jacobson.

Bell scored 86 points in three games at the Division AA, West Region Girls Basketball Tournament last week in Bismarck and poured in 40 points alone in Minot High’s 70-55 state qualifier win over Bismarck St. Mary’s on Saturday at the Bismarck Event Center.

Bell has scored 660 points this season and is averaging 27.5 points per game for Minot High who matches up with Fargo Davies in the final quarterfinal game on Thursday, March 13 at the FARGODOME.

Bell helped Minot High to a NDHSAA Class A girls basketball state championship in 2022 as an eighth grader and has been one the state’s top scorers for several seasons.

She currently sits No. 3 on the Class A/Division AA all-time scoring list with 2,332 points behind 2024 Grand Forks Red River graduate Jocelyn Schiller (2,344 points) and Jacobson (2,371 points).

Jacobson has held the record since February 2, 2016 when she scored 27 points in a 79-56 win over Grand Forks Central at Shanley’s McCormick Gymnasium. She broke 1985 Devils Lake graduate Durene Heisler’s record of 2,120 points that evening.

NORTH DAKOTA’S CLASS A/DIVISION AA GIRLS BASKETBALL 2,000 POINT SCORERS:

1. SARAH JACOBSON, FARGO SHANLEY - 2,371 POINTS

2. JOCELYN SCHILLER, GRAND FORKS RED RIVER - 2,344 POINTS

3. * LEELEE BELL, MINOT HIGH – 2,332 POINTS   

4. ADIE WAGNER, FARGO SOUTH – 2,227 POINTS

5. TYLEE IRWIN, WAHPETON – 2,192 POINTS

6. DURENE HEISLER, DEVILS LAKE – 2,120 POINTS

7. REILE PAYNE, FARGO SHANLEY – 2,071 POINTS

8. ANGIE WELLE, FARGO SHANLEY – 2,013 POINTS

* – DENOTES STILL ACTIVE

Follow NDHSAA on Twitter at @NDHSAA and visit www.ndhsaanow.com for the latest NDHSAA sports and activities news from around the state.