BROOKINGS – In what many observers considered to be a wide-open tournament, the top three seeds and fifth seed won Thursday in the first round of the SDHSAA Class A Girls State Tournament at Frost Arena.
Top seed Wagner needed a fourth-quarter comeback to topple Red Cloud. St. Thomas More scored in the last seconds to defeat Lakota Tech. West Central held off Dakota Valley. Strong defense by Hamlin led the Chargers past Sioux Falls Christian.
Wagner 68, Red Cloud 62
Wagner rallied from a 12-point deficit through three quarters to advance to Friday’s semifinal. Lydia Yost hit her third three-pointer of the game with 2:10 remaining to give the Red Raiders the lead for good. Wagner outscored Red Cloud 22-4 in the fourth quarter, holding the Crusaders to one field goal in the final eight minutes.
Emma Yost and Ashlyn Koupal each scored 17 points for Wagner (23-1). Yost had 13 rebounds and five assists. Koupal scored 16 with nine rebounds.
Stevi Fallis scored 24 with five three-pointers for Red Cloud (20-3). Allison Richards scored 19.
St. Thomas More 37, Lakota Tech 35
Reese Ross’ layup in the lane with four seconds left capped a game-ending 8-0 run to send More to the semifinal round. Ross scored 20 points with 12 rebounds and hit two three-pointers for More (20-3). Mairin Duffy, who made a steal with 10 seconds left to set up the winning possession, had 10 points.
Moriah Morisette had 13 points and Shayla Bravo scored 10 for Lakota Tech (20-2), who made the state tournament in the second year of the program.
Wagner will meet St. Thomas More on Friday in the semifinal round.
West Central 65, Dakota Valley 52
West Central built a lead through the second quarter and maintained it. Abby Kramer and Tabor Teel each scored 18 for the Trojans (22-2). Kramer hit four three-pointers and Teel knocked down two.and had four blocked shots. Rylee Haldeman scored 17.
Rylee Rosenquist scored 16 points with 12 rebounds and Grace Bass also scored 16 for Dakota Valley (19-5).
Hamlin 47, Sioux Falls Christian 34
Hamlin held Sioux Falls Christian to 26 percent shooting and was led by the 21 points and nine rebounds of Kami Wadsworth. Ally Abraham scored 16 for the Chargers (22-2).
Ellie Lems scored 13 for Sioux Falls Christian (20-4), while Kylah vanDonkersgoed had 12 points and nine rebounds.
West Central will meet Hamlin Friday in a semifinal.
Comments