The Wessington Springs Spartans girls basketball took 3rd place at the 281 conference tournament.
On Monday, January 20th the Spartans took on the Sanborn Central/ Woonsocket Blackhawks in the semifinals of the tournament. The Spartans gave an early good battle but were defeated by SCW by a score of 68-38. The game went back and forth in the first quarter and until the Blackhawks took the lead with some late baskets and the score was 17-12 in favor of SCW at end of the first quarter. Defense took over in 2nd quarter and SCW outscored the Spartans 11-4 and took a 28-16 lead into halftime. The 3rd quarter saw much more offense from both teams but SCW outscored the Spartans 2014 and increased their lead to 48-30 going into the 4th quarter. SCW was able to control the 4th quarter and did not allow the Spartans to get back into the game and SCW came away with 68-38 win. Kerstynn Heim led the Spartans with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Kenzie Kolousek had 10 points.
On Thursday, January 23 in the 3rd/4th place game at the Huron Arena, the Spartan girls were able to defeat Hitchcock-Tulare 4645 to earn 3rd place in the tournament. The Spartans got off to a good start leading 7-0 halfway through the 1st quarter. Hitchcock-Tulare, however, went on a 10-2 run to end the first quarter and led 10-9 after one quarter of play. The Spartans clamped down defensively in the 2nd quarter allowing only 3 points, while scoring 13 points themselves and held a 22-13 lead going into halftime. Coming out in 3rd quarter Hitchcock-Tulare went on a run to cut into the lead and even take the lead. The Spartans recovered at end of 3rd quarter to retake the lead and led 32-27 going into 4th quarter. Hitchcock-Tulare again started 4th quarter strong and even took a 4 point lead with about 3 minutes to go. However the Spartans outscored Hitchcock-Tulare 8-2 in last 3 minutes to get the lead. The last minute of the game had plenty of action. Mariah Messmer tied the game at 45 with a steal and layup. On ensuing possession Kaitlyn Braun took a charge to get the ball back for the Spartans. With game tied the Spartans ran the ball down to final seconds. Mariah Messmer was able to grab offensive rebound and was fouled to go to the free throw line with 1.6 seconds left in the game. Mariah Messmer made the first free throw for the 46-45 lead and missed the second free throw on purpose to allow the clock to run out on the HT rebound. Messmer led the Spartans in scoring with 11 points. Kerstynn Heim had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Kenzie Kolousek and Ashlyn Weber each scored 8 points.
The 5-6 Spartans have a good week coming up with some strong teams. On Tuesday the Spartans will host Andes Central/Dakota Christian who is receiving votes in recent polls. Then on Thursday the SCW Blakchawks, who are ranked in top 5 in the state, come to Wessington Springs for JH, C, JV and Varsity games. The Spartans finish off the week on Saturday traveling to Miller, who are 10-2 in Class A this year.