BY HEAD GIRLS BASKETBALL COACH JASON KOLOUSEK
On Saturday, the Wessington Springs Spartans girls basketball team improved their record to 2-1 with a 47-40 victory over Howard. The scoring was slow to get started by the Spartans and they did build an early 6-2 lead. However, Howard took over the last part of the first quarter and led 13-8 after one quarter of play.
The Spartans came out strong and took a 20-16 lead late in the second quarter, but Howard went on a quick 6-0 run to take a 22-20 lead going into halftime.
The Spartans replied in the third quarter and scored the first six points to regain the lead at 26-22. Howard was able to get a few things going and the score was tied at 30 going into the 4th quarter. To start the fourth quarter, Howard scored the first four points, but then the Spartans put the clamps down defensively and came up with some big baskets to regain the lead. In the final minute and a half, the Spartans were able to hit some big free throws and had a 47-37 lead until Howard hit a three at the buzzer to make the final score 47-40 in Wessington Springs favor.
Avery Orth led the scoring with 17 points and eight rebounds. Early in the game, Avery scored a bucket to surpass the 1,000 points mark for her career.
Carissa Scheel had 10 points and eight rebounds. Alyssa Grohs had seven points, seven rebounds and four assists.