Roger MerriamWatertown Public Opinion
Eight area teams, including overall top seeds Sisseton (Class A) and Arlington (Class B), advanced to SoDak 16 state-qualifying girls basketball games with region semifinal wins on Thursday.
Pairings have been finalized for the SoDak 16 state-qualifying games on Thursday, Feb. 29. Here are the sites and times (All Central):
Class A SoDak 16 Pairings (Feb. 29)
No. 1 Sisseton (20-1) vs. No. 16 Tri-Valley (12-10), 7 p.m. in the Watertown Civic Arena
No. 2 Sioux Falls Christian (19-2) vs. No. 15 Miller (15-7), 6 p.m. at Salem
No. 3 Flandreau (22-0) vs. No. 14 Hill City (18-4), 7 p.m. at Chamberlain
No. 4 Vermillion (18-4) vs. No. 13 Winner (16-4), 6:30 p.m. at Menno
No. 5 Mahpiya Luta (Formerly Red Cloud) (21-0) vs. No. 12 Belle Fourche (16-4), 7:30 p.m. at Hot Springs
No. 6 Tea Area (18-4) vs. No. 12 Mobridge-Pollock (17-4), 5:30 p.m. in the Huron Arena
No. 7 Aberdeen Roncalli (19-3) vs. No. 10 Mount Vernon-Plankinton (17-5), 7 p.m. in the Huron Arena
No. 8 Hanson (16-5) vs. No. 9 Florence-Henry (17-5), 7:30 p.m. at Madison High School
Class B SoDak 16 Pairings (Feb. 29)
No. 1 Arlington (20-2) vs. No. 16 Gayville-Volin (15-7), 6 p.m. at Madison High School
No. 2 Harding County (21-0) vs. No. 15 Northwestern (13-9), 6:30 p.m. at Timber Lake
No. 3 Centerville (20-2) vs. No. 14 Tripp-Delmont/Armour (13-9), 7 p.m. at Irene
No. 4 Ethan (19-2) vs. No. 13 Andes Central-Dakota Christian (14-8), 7 p.m. at Parkston
No. 5 Wall (18-4) vs. No. 12 Colman-Egan (15-7), 5:30 p.m. at Fort Pierre (Stanley County HS)
No. 6 Warner (20-2) vs. No. 11 Herreid-Selby Area (15-7), 7 p.m. at Ipswich
No. 7 Lyman (19-2) vs. No. 10 Kadoka Area (15-6), 7 p.m. at Murdo
No. 8 Lemmon (19-3) vs. No. 9 James Valley Christian (15-6), 6:30 p.m. at Gettysburg
Here are highlights from Thursday's area region semifinal games:
Region 2B
No. 1 seed Arlington and No. 2 seed James Valley Christian each posted wins at Madison High School. Arlington beat No. 5 Iroquois-Lake Preston 63-32 and James Valley topped No. 3 Deubrook Area 57-38.
Arlington had four players in double figures (Jaelyn Huntimer 20 points, Addie Steffensen 14, Jo Steffensen 12 and Harley Johnson 10). Huntimer added five rebounds.
Addison Moore's 15 points and Faith Steffensen's 15 rebounds paced ILP (10-12), which also got eight points and seven rebounds from Hadlee Holt.
Alexa Gorz notched18 points, Addison Bartholow 11 and Addyson Knight 10 for JVC. Kaylie Robinson contributed nine points and 10 rebounds. Knight also snared eight rebounds.
Kylee Johnson had 11 points and Mataya Gouws nine points and five rebounds for Deubrook Area (9-13).
Region 1B
Top-seeded Warner advanced with a 64-31 semifinal win over No. 4 Britton-Hecla (8-14), getting 21 points from Kyra Marcuson, 14 from Kyleigh Schopp, 12 from Ava Nilsson and eight from Stacia Carda.
Heather Storbakken tallied nine points and Sterling Brassfield seven for Britton-Hecla.
Third-seeded Northwestern also moved on by slipping past No. 2 Leola-Frederick Area (15-7) 49-47.
Ana Ratigan produced 17 points and Tara Blachford 12 for Northwestern. Kyara Ratigan contributed eight points, Ella Boekleheide eight rebounds, Josie Sparling five assists and and Sophia Troske four steals.
Laura Sumption poured in 26 points for LFA. Sofia Losure added 10 points and Olivia Morlock seven steals.
Proposed SDHSAA Alignments: Board of directors to hear first and second readings of alignments on Feb. 28 and April 17
Region 6B
Semifinal winners included top-seeded Lyman, which beat No. 5 Potter County 69-40), and No. 3 Herreid-Selby Area, which rolled past No. 7 Highmore-Harrold 54-38.
Skyler Volmer collected 19 points and seven rebounds for Lyman. Jordyn and Makaylee Scott each added 17.
Both Potter County and Highmore-Harrold ended the season with 11-11 records.
No other details were reported.
Region 1A
Top-seeded and fourth-rated Class A Sisseton advanced with a 64-43 win over No. 4 Milbank and No. 2 Roncalli defeated No. 3 Groton Area 44-35.
Chloe Langager's 22 points and eight rebounds paced Sisseton. Krista Langager added 12 points and 10 rebounds, Hannah Leverson 13 points and Emmalee Nielsen nine points.
Milbank (12-10) received 12 points apiece from Isabella Anderson and Tyra Berry. Josie Riveland followed eight eight.
Ava Hanson and Maddie Huber each scored 11 points and McKenna O'Keefe and Camryn Bain seven each for Roncalli. Hanson and Gabby Thomas hauled in five rebounds apiece.
Sydney Leicht and Jaidyn Penning led Groton Area (14-8) with 10 points each. Jerica Locke added eight points and seven rebounds.
Region 2A
Top-seeded and No. 1-rated Flandreau remained perfect with a 46-30 win over No. 4 seed Sioux Valley and No. 2 seed Florence-Henry eliminated No. 3 seed and defending state champion Hamlin 59-46.
Flandreau's leaders included Lily Klein with 19 points, Claire Sheppard with nine points and 10 rebounds and Lizzlie Pavlis with six points and 11 rebounds.
Kailey Cradduck (17 points) and Keyra Kruse (11 points) led the way for Sioux Valley, which finished with a 16-6 record.
Reese Schmidt scored 22 points, Haley Hlavacek 15, Caylin Kelly 12 and Taylor Watson 10 for Florence-Henry. Kelly added six rebounds and five assists. Hlavacek also pulled down six rebounds.
Addison Neuendorf led all scorers by tallying 30 points for Hamlin (14-8).
More: No. 4 Class A Sisseton and No. 4 Class B Arlington among quarterfinal winners on Tuesday
Region 6A
Top-seeded Mobridge-Pollock defeated No. 4 Crow Creek 56-39 in one semifinal game and No. 2 Miller handled No. 3 McLaughlin 56-39 in the other.
McLaughlin finished its season with a 14-7 record and Crow Creek 13-8.
No other details were reported.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
