WHITE/ELKTON – Deubrook Area edged Lake Preston 53-51 and Elkton-Lake Benton defeated Arlington 37-32 in the semifinals of the Dakota Valley Conference Girls’ Basketball Tournament on Friday night.
The Dolphins (10-2) and Lady Elks (6-4) face off for the title tonight at 8 in Elkton. The Divers (6-5) take on the Cardinals (5-7) in the third-place game at 4:30 p.m.
In Friday’s consolation semifinals, Colman-Egan beat Estelline 55-25 and Dell Rapids St. Mary dropped Oldham-Ramona/Rutland 47-14.
The Hawks (4-9) face the Cardinals (4-7) for fifth place at 3 p.m. and the Lady Redmen (2-9) take on the Raiders (0-11) in the seventh-place matchup at 1:30 p.m.
Semifinals
• Deubrook Area 53, Lake Preston 51
The Dolphins outscored the Divers 11-9 in the fourth quarter to secure the two-point triumph.
Lake Preston came out on fire, doubling up Deubrook in the first quarter – 28-14. The home team pulled within 36-27 at halftime and knotted things up at 42-all through three.
Cortney Bauman totaled 26 points and four steals for Deubrook, which has won four games in a row.
Cassie Quail had 11 points and three assists.
Mattie Nepodal, Shaylee DeBeer, Ashley Vandermeer and Baylee Holmlund each added four points. Vandermeer grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out five assists. Shelby Andrews totaled 10 boards and a pair of blocks. Claire Olsen corralled seven rebounds.
For the Divers, who had their four-game winning streak snapped, Ashlyn DeKnikker finished with 20 points – nine of which came in the first quarter. She’s averaging 25.6 points per game the past five contests.
Meriah Flegel added 16 points, Olivia Christensen nine and Lexie Larsen six.
• Elkton-Lake Benton 37, Arlington 32
Callie Otkin hit four 3-pointers and scored 22 points to pace the Lady Elks.
The Cardinals led 11-9 after a quarter and 18-17 at halftime. ELB turned the tables in the third, opening up a 31-24 advantage with 8 minutes to go.
Samantha Schindler added 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Rachel Colgrove scored three points and Aubrey Wirth one to go with eight boards.
Arlington’s Jayna Haufschild had nine points, Makayla Nelson seven, Jeryn Christensen six and Kasey Pistulka five.
Consolation semifinals
• Colman-Egan 55, Estelline 25
The Hawks opened up a 16-6 lead after a quarter and were ahead 25-14 at halftime, before pulling away in the second half for the 30-point victory.
Braiden Westley scored a game-high 15 points off the bench, finishing 6-of-9 from the field. She added five rebounds.
Mackenzie Hemmer and Haleigh Nicol both contributed nine points. Madison Voelker had seven boards.
Westley and Hemmer both came up with five of the team’s 18 steals as Colman-Egan forced 32 turnovers.
The Lady Redmen’s Marissa Golas had seven points.
