VOLGA Sioux Valley punched its ticket to the Class A Girls SoDak 16 on Thursday night with a 65-24 blowout victory over Great Plains Lutheran in the Region 2A Playoffs.
The Cossacks raced out to a 21-9 lead in the first quarter and didn’t look back. Sioux Valley head coach Jamie Granum propelled the Cossacks to the large victory.
We got off to a fast start. The ball movement was really good for us and [playing in] transition was really good for us. Defensively, we dialed in on their point guard and their shooter and we just wanted to control them and contain them and have them rely on their other players to beat us. We just executed really well, Granum said.
Sioux Valley extended the lead to 38-17 by halftime. The Cossacks then led 52-24 at the end of the third and shut out the Panthers in the final quarter.
The Cossacks had a major advantage on the glass as they had 35 rebounds and the Panthers had 15. Granum said that led to a lot of transition buckets for Sioux Valley.
Our success started on the rebounding end. We had a 20 rebound advantage and that led to a lot of scoring in transition. We had a lot of scores in transition and a lot of open shots in transition, Granum said.
Tayla Vincent was a sharp shooter on Thursday night as she went 8-of-12 from three and finished with 24 points. Granum said Vincent teammates did a good job of finding her when she was open.
Most of Talyas threes were just in transition where they were scrambling to match up. Our kids are so unselfish and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, so they like to find her when shes open because they know what she does really well, and thats shoot the three, Granum said.
Sioux Valley shot 48% from the field and was 12-of-30 from three. Liberty Trygstad and Kailey Cradduck also scored in double figures for the Cossacks. Trygstad had 15 points and Cradduck had a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards.
The Panthers shot 28.6% from the field and were 1-of-11 from beyond the arc. The Panthers were led by Madeline Prahl who had 13 points.
The Cossacks had eight turnovers and the Panthers had 11. Sioux Valley was 5-of-8 at the free throw line and GPL was 3-of-7.
Sioux Valley will be the No. 7 seed and will play No. 10 seeded Miller on March 6. The site of the game is yet to be determined.
Granum said he doesnt know a lot about Miller, but his team is excited to have the opportunity to be one of the final 16 teams in Class A.
The confidence level is extremely high right now. We can score with anyone in the state and defensively, were a pretty good defensive team right now. Ive been around teams that have earned this recognition to be in the final 16 of our class and all of the work theyve put in and all of the work they put in during the offseason, theyre right where they should be. We think were playing our best right now and it feels good sitting in my seat when we have five players on the court at all times that are skilled and unselfish, Granum said.
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