VOLGA – The No. 4 seeded Sioux Valley girls’ basketball team advanced to the Region 2A semifinals Tuesday night with a 52-36 victory over No. 5 seeded Clark/Willow Lake.
“That was postseason basketball,” said Sioux Valley head coach Jamie Granum. “This is a young team who hasn’t really had a whole lot of these opportunities and we came out and played really, really well.
“We’re playing really well here at the end of the season and that’s the sign of a good team. The sign of a team that practices right and does the right things and want to be around each other. Boy we just played really hard tonight. We just made enough stops.”
The Cossacks jumped out to 12-7 lead in the first quarter. CWL then fought back and tied the game 15-15 with 3:44 left in the first half. Sioux Valley was able gain the advantage before the end of the first half and took a 24-20 lead into halftime.
Sioux Valley kept that momentum going to start the third quarter as it went on a 7-0 run to take an 11-point lead. CWL was able to cut the Cossacks’ lead to six a couple of times, but Sioux Valley kept the Cyclones at arms length. The Cossacks put CWL away when they went on a 9-0 run with 3:14 left in the game.
The Cossacks held the Cyclones to 26.1% shooting from the field and CWL was 3-for-16 from 3. Sioux Valley forced 20 turnovers for the game.
“We knew [CWL] didn’t really have an inside presence. So decided to take our 3-2 defense and just turn it into a match up zone against a five-out team. Our mindset was keeping the ball in front of us. Making them take 20-foot jumpers and tonight we survived it,” Granum said.
Sioux Valley shot 37.5% from the field and was 7-for-22 from deep.
The Cossacks were led by Isabelle Bloker, who scored 16 points. Reagan Johnson had 15 points and nine rebounds. Abbie Schnieder added nine points and Ashley Bjerke had eight..
The Cyclones won the rebounding battle 34-25. They were led by Jada Burke, who had 11 points and seven rebounds. Alicia Vig and Kayla Jordan each had six points.
Sioux Valley plays at No. 1 seed Hamlin with a trip to the SoDak 16 on the line Thursday at 7 p.m. The Chargers came away with a 57-24 victory Jan. 12. Granum said he thinks his team has improved a lot since that loss and will give it their all with their season on the line.
“It’s going to be extremely physical [Thursday}. We’ll try to do everything we can to keep that a game in the first quarter. [Hamlin] is one of the best teams in the state and they’re sitting in our region right now. I know that we’re playing better basketball than the first time we played them. So we’re going to give it everything we have. We know that this is the storm game and the game that sends us home and so we’re going to be ready to play,” Granum said.
SIOUX VALLEY 52, CLARK/WILLOW LAKE 36
Clark/Willow Lake
Jada Burke 4-17 3-6 11, Alicia Vig 1-8 3-4 6, Kayla Jordan 2-7 2-4 6, Jaycie Forbes 2-3 0-0 5, Charity Kabwe 1-6 1-2 4, Maggie Hovde 2-4 0-0 4, Chayla Vig 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-46 9-16 36.
Sioux Valley
Isabelle Bloker 4-16 6-7 16, Reagan Johnson 6-12 3-3 15, Abbie Schneider 3-6 0-0 9, Ashley Bjerke 3-7 0-2 8, Julia Schneider 2-6 0-0 4, Kendra Hiltunen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-48 9-12 52.
Clark/Willow Lake 7 13 7 9 – 36
Sioux Valley 12 12 11 17 – 52
3-point field goals – CWL 3-16 (Forbes 1-2, A. Vig 1-4, Kabwe 1-5, C. Vig 0-1, Burke 0-2, Jordan 0-2), SV 7-22 (A. Schneider 3-6, Bjerke 2-5, Bloker 2-9, J. Schneider 0-2). Rebounds – CWL 34 (Burke 7), SV 25 (Johnson 9). Assists – CWL 9 (Burke 3), SV 17 (J. Schneider 7). Steals – CWL 12 (A. Vig, C. Vig, Summer Seefeldt 1), SV 19 (J. Schneider 4). Blocks – CWL 0, SV 2 (A. Schneider). Turnovers – CWL 20, SV 13. Total fouls – CWL 11, SV 12. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – CWL bench.
• Flandreau 69, Deuel 35
FLANDREAU – Claire Sheppard dropped in a game-high 21 points as the Fliers defeated the Cardinals to advance.
Lizzie Pavlis posted a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Lily Klein scored 13 points and came up with eight steals.
Teiloni Hardy chipped in with nine markers.
For the Cardinals (3-17), Harley Hemings had 12 points and Haley Winter 11.
Flandreau (13-6) plays at Florence/Henry (16-3) in the semifinals Thursday.
