VOLGA It wasnt without a fight, but the Sioux Valley girls basketball team came up short against No. 2 ranked Sisseton on Friday night, falling to the Redmen 65-60.
Sioux Valley trailed by 14 points in the second quarter, but battled back and cut the lead to four points with 1:15 remaining. Sioux Valley head coach Jamie Granum said he was proud of the way his team fought back and hung with the No. 2 ranked team in Class A.
I just told them in the locker room, and we have talked about championship moments and winning plays, all of the coaching slogans that youve ever heard and have been written on a t-shirt, we talked about every single one of them. Im so happy with our effort and I felt tonight was the hardest weve played and the most competitive weve played all season long, Granum said.
The Cossacks jumped out to a 9-4 lead. Sisseton (7-0) then closed out the first quarter on a 9-2 run and led 13-11 at the end of the quarter. The Redmen opened the second quarter with a 14-2 run and led 27-13 with 4:18 to play in the first half. Sioux Valley was able to close the half with an 8-0 run and cut the lead to 32-26 heading into the locker room.
Sioux Valley would then cut the lead to 34-32 two minutes into the second half. However, the Redmen were able to outscore the Cossacks 16-11 the rest of the quarter and took a 50-43 lead into the fourth.
Sisseton pushed the lead to 62-49 with five minutes left but an 8-0 spurt from Kailey Craduck and Isabelle Bloker cut the lead to 62-57 with just under four minutes left. Sioux Valley then trailed 64-60 with 1:15 left but was unable to score again and dropped to 3-2 on the season.
Granum said playing more physically allowed his team to get back in the game in the second half.
Its hard to score in the paint when they have two girls [in Krista Langager and Chloe Langager] that have played as much as they have. You know, thats a returning state tournament team who returned all five starters. I felt as the game went along we matched their physicality, at least better than the first quarter or first half. So, it took a little bit of an adjustment to get used to that, but the response of these kids [was great], Granum said.
Sioux Valley shot 39.6% from the field and was 12-of-30 from three. The Cossacks were led by freshman Kailey Cradduck who had a career-high 25 points and five rebounds. Granum said Cradduck is just getting started.
Kailey has so much confidence and her teammates have so much confidence in her. With her length and her basketball IQ, shes already special as a freshman, and shes only going to get better Granum said.
Talya Vincent had 16 points and four assists. Bloker had 13 points and three assists.
Sisseton shot 44.4% from the field and was 3-of-18 from three. Krista Langager led the Redmen with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Emalee Nielsen had 14 points and Chloe Langager had nine points. Hannah Leverson had nine points and seven assists.
Sisseston won the rebound battle 30-24. The Redmen were 16-of-22 at the free throw line and the Cossacks were 6-of-9. Sioux Valley had 17 turnovers and eight steals. Sisseton had 15 turnovers and 11 steals.
Up next, Sioux Valley will host Deubrook Area on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Granum said this is a game that can give his team his momentum and theyre going to need it because theyre in a region with teams like Flandreau, Hamlin and Florence/Henry.
I think if anything, and its real in this sport, the confidence level [will increase]. We were in this game and were going to play a No. 1 or No. 3 ranked Flandreau team. Whatever they are ranked when we play them, and theyre very similar to [Sisseton]. Theyre as physical as this team and they have the same size as this team. So, obviously its a huge boost to our program and its a huge boost to the kids. What I love about our team more than anything else is that we keep improving, Granum said.
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