No. 1 Wessington Springs (17-4) will take on No. 4 Tripp-Delmont/Armour (12-9) on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Corn Palace in Mitchell. Winners of the games on Thursday advance to the SoDak 16 games which will be played on Thursday, February 29.
BY HEAD GIRLS BASKETBALL COACH JASON KOLOUSEK
The Wessington Springs Spartans girls basketball team traveled to Kimball last Tuesday and defeated Kimball/ White Lake by a score of 58-37. The Spartans got off to a good start and led 16-10 after one quarter of play. The 2nd quarter was low scoring with the Spartans outscoring KWL 10-6 to take a 26-16 lead into halftime. The Spartans slowly continued to build the lead in the 3rd quarter and led 40-27 going into final quarter of play. The Spartans exploded for some early points in fourth quarter to build a 20 point lead and cruised to the victory. Carissa Scheel led the scoring with 16 points and eight rebounds. Avery Orth had 11 points and eight rebounds. Kerstynn Heim added 11 points and five rebounds. Raylee Fagerhaug had nine points. Alyssa Grohs filled the stat sheet with five points, eight rebounds and 12 assists.
On Friday the Spartans played their last regular season game of the year at James Valley Christian. Going into the game both the Spartans and JVC were 6-0 in regular season 281 conference games. So the winner of the game would win the regular season 281 title. The Spartans had a slow start and JVC built a 15-6 lead 5 minutes into the game. The Spartans however ended the first quarter on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 15-13 after one quarter of play. The Spartans continued their good play and built a 24-17 lead before JVC got a late basket in the half to make the score 24-19 in favor of the Spartans going into halftime. The third quarter went back and forth with the Spartans’ lead fluctuating between four and eight points. The Spartans did hold a 36-30 lead going into the fourth quarter. JVC was able to cut into the lead and had it down to three points at one time, but the Spartans came up with big buckets and key free throws to secure the 50-45 victory. The win put the record of the Spartans at 16-4 for the season. The win also gave the Spartans the regular season 281 conference title. The Spartans were 281 conference champions for the regular season and won the conference tournament.
The Spartans JV team also pulled out a close victory on Friday pulling out a come from behind overtime victory. The Spartans girls JV team had a final record of 12-3 on the season.
The Wessington Springs Spartans girls basketball team is the #1 seed in Region 5B. Region play began on Monday, February 19 with Gregory defeating Colome.
On Tuesday, the Spartans earned a decisive win over Gregory, 54-33, advancing Wessington Springs to the semifinals.
No. 1 Wessington Springs (17-4) will take on No. 4 Tripp-Delmont/Armour (12-9) on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Corn Palace in Mitchell. Winners of the games on Thursday advance to the SoDak 16 games which will be played on Thursday, February 29.