PIERRE – During the annual SDHSAA Basketball Committee Advisory Meeting Wednesday, a proposal to have all of the girls’ state championship tournaments at the same site was rejected.
The proposal was made by Sioux Falls Washington Head Coach Jamie Parish. His reasoning was that the best female athletes would be showcased in the same location and bring an opportunity to grow the game, as participation in girls athletics is decreasing in South Dakota.
SDHSAA Assistant Executive Director Jo Auch said that this plan would limit the number of cities that could host all three tournaments, and also that the current rotation among cities hosting the tournaments is successful.
Spearfish is one of those cities and Spearfish High School Athletic Director Stephanie Ornelas said that having all the tournaments in one city would eliminate Spearfish from being considered.
Winner Head Coach Larry Aaker pointed out that in the past, when there have been multiple title games on the same day at one site, winning teams would be rushed off the court to prepare for the next game.
Other proposals rejected included:
- A block-charge restricted arc. This is used in college and professional basketball to help reduce charging fouls.
- A reset of the shot clock to 25 seconds on an offensive rebound instead of 35 seconds. Instead, the committee will follow a ruling from the National Federation of State High School Associations.
- Expanding the Class B playoffs to a round of 32.
- Having the 12th- through 19th-ranked teams in Class AA have play-in games before the SoDak 16.
- A survey for coaches and officials to evaluate each other the day after a game.
Three proposals were passed and will be sent to the South Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association to be discussed during their conference in March. If approved, these will require final approval by the SDHSAA Board of Governors:
- A mercy rule for Class AA games. It would be the same as in Classes A and B, where a running clock would begin (except for free throws and timeouts) when the point margin reaches 30 in the second half. Regular timing would resume if the point differential goes back below 20.
- The cutoff date for teams to accumulate seed points against out-of-state opponents would be the same as for games against teams in South Dakota.
- Regular season games could not be played after the cutoff date, no matter the reason.
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