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McLaughlin finishes eighth at Girls Class A

Jump from Class B to Class A proves to be learning experience




McLaughlin's Tiara Flying Horse leaping for rebound against Averi Pankonen (12) and Sami Reider (1) of Dell Rapids.

McLaughlin’s Tiara Flying Horse leaping for rebound against Averi Pankonen (12) and Sami Reider (1) of Dell Rapids.

WATERTOWN –– Before last year, Class B McLaughlin had not sent their girls to state in 31 years; this year they were back at state, but at the Class A level, and ended up losing the seventh place game to Dell Rapids, 71-62.

Head Coach Donna Taken Alive, in her 17th year at the helm, went 13-6 over the regular season, upsetting an excellent Cheyenne-Eagle Butte (C-EB) squad, 60-56, for the Region 6A title. McLaughlin opened the year with a 76-68 loss to C-EB, and following three straight losses to Little Wound, Winner and Lemmon, beat Chamberlain in the final game to earn the number two seed for the region.

Shania Jamerson of McLaughlin ready to take the shot, guarded by Kali Graham (34) of Dell Rapids with Tariq Brownotter of McLaughlin in the background.

Shania Jamerson of McLaughlin ready to take the shot, guarded by Kali Graham (34) of Dell Rapids with Tariq Brownotter of McLaughlin in the background.

First Game: (#2) Webster Area 66, (#7) McLaughlin 63

Probably the best player at the tournament, Webster Area’s Haley Rithmiller, a 5- 10 junior, had all of her team’s first period points, and 21 of their first 26 points. The Bearcats trailed McLaughlin 22-9 after one period, and McLaughlin seemed in total control.

In the second period McLaughlin shooting went cold, and Rithmiller did not, outscoring the entire McLaughlin team, 12-5. Webster Area fought their way back to trail by only one 27-26, at the half.

McLaughlin wasn’t going to contain the slide in the second half, they went toe-to-toe with Webster area and outscored them 17-15 in the period, to lead 44-41. In the final quarter, Lindsey Schoenbeck, a 5-10 senior center, scored on a put back and was fouled. She made the free throw and Webster Area had their first lead of the game 46-44, with 5:30 left to play. Shania Jamerson, a 5-7 junior, tied it back up at 46-all, but Rithmiller stole the ball, scored on a length of court lay-up, to put Webster Area back on top 48-46.

Tariq Brownotter, a cat quick 5-2 junior, tied it back up at 48-all, and when Rithmiller made the mistake of fouling her beyond the arc, Brownotter sank all three free throws, giving McLaughlin a 51-49 lead with five minutes to play.

With under two minutes to play Jamerson was called for a foul, putting McKenzie Volesky, a 5-6 junior at the line. That was Jamerson’s fifth foul, and she would not be available to counter Rithmiller inside in the upcoming overtime. Volesky made her free throws, Webster Area led 57-54, before Jayda Bad Horse, a gutsy 5-8 senior, with only seconds remaining, drained a three to tie it up 57-all and force overtime.

In the overtime, McLaughlin fell behind 61-57, before Brownotter hit a three to pull them one behind, 61-60. At that point, Kiara Schmeichel, a 5-8 sophomore also fouled out for McLaughlin, which sent Olivia Breske, a 5-10 sophomore to the line, and she made both, putting Webster Area ahead 64-60 with 1:25 to play.

Brownotter missed a three, forcing a foul of Volesky to stop the clock. She made one of two, 65-60. Then with 35 seconds remaining, Tiara Flying Horse, a 5-6 sophomore, hit a big three, to make it 63-65. Webster Area would add a free throw to their total before Brownotter took the last shot of the game, a desperation three to send it to a second overtime, but missed.

Rithmiller led all scorers with 25 points, almost all that damage done in the first half. She was also 6-6 from the line and led all players with 13 rebounds. Voleksy had 17 points and 3 steals. Breske had 15 points, 9 rebounds and was 4-4 from the line. The critical difference in this game was Webster Area’s free throw advantage of 19-30 compared to McLaughlin’s 7-9.

Jamerson paced McLaughlin with 18 points. Brownotter had 16, including 5 assists and 3 steals. Flying Horse had 14 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Bad Horse added 10 points and 5 rebounds. McLaughlin outshot Webster Area 39-33 percent.

Second Game: (#3) West Central 67, (#7) McLaughlin 54

Again McLaughlin came out strong, hitting threes and led West Central 16-13, after one period. But they scored only 22 points over the next two periods, and West Central tallied 38, to lead 51-38 after three.

Once again the charity stripe played a huge factor in the outcome. McLaughlin had 22 fouls to 14 for West Central and Schmeichel fouled out. West Central outscored their opponent 22- 8 in free throws and also controlled the boards 50-31.

Mclaughlin played hard in the final period but West Central gave back as good as they got and the 16-all standoff in that period meant West Central kept their lead and handed Mclaughlin there second loss at the tournament.

Three players tallied 22 points for the game, Bailey Meadors and Alexa From of West Central, and Tiara Flying Horse of McLaughlin. Bailey and From also had 8 and 9 rebounds, respectively, and each had 3 steals. Flying Horse had 8 boards and 7 steals.

Ashlyn MacDonald of West Central led all rebounders with 11.

Seventh Place Game: (#8) Dell Rapids 71, (#7) McLaughlin 62

For three periods McLaughlin traded blow-for-blow with bigger, stronger Dell Rapids before finally bowing to the excellent inside game of the Lady Quarriers’ powerful 5-0 senior center, Mikaela Stofferahn.

Dell Rapids took a 9-2 lead primarily behind the workman like play of stout 5-7 sophomore, Arial Hoffman. But McLaughlin battled back, and with only seconds remaining in the first, Shania Jamerson’s bucket finally put her team up 12-11. However, the first period ended with Dell Rapids up by two, 13- 12.

With Dell Rapids up 19-18 in the second quarter, Jayda Bad Horse hit a three, Tariq Brownotter raced a turn over the length of court for a layup, and then Kiara Schmiechel added another three, and McLaughlin jumped out to a 26-19 lead. It didn’t last long.

Three possessions later Dell Rapids tied it right back up on a bucket by Emma Paul, eventually retaking the lead 33-31 before Brownotter hit a clutch jumper for three to give McLaughlin the lead at the half, 34-33.

Nothing changed in the third period; both teams battled back and forth, until Arial Hoffman was fouled by Tiara Flying Horse and made both free throws to put Dell Rapids ahead 46-45. Lindsey Morris scored a tough inside bucket and it was 48-45. Jamerson then fouled Stofferahn and her two free throws made it 50- 45 with only seconds left in the third. Brownotter found herself alone beyond the arc and hit a three to bring it back to a bucket lead for Dell Rapids, 50-48.

McLaughlin came out flat for the final eight minutes, and Dell Rapids pounced, mostly behind the hard inside work of Stofferahn and led 60-50 with 5:36 to play. Mclaughlin battled back with big scores from Bad Horse and Jamerson and with 1:35 remaining Bad Horse put back an offensive board to tie it up 62-all.

Except for one inside bucket from Stofferahn, Dell Rapids then used the charity stripe to build a nine point lead, and closed out McLaughlin 71-62.

Stofferhan led all scorers with 21 points. She had nine boards. Hoffmann added 14 points and 8 rebounds, Morris 13 points, 4 assists, and Paul had 10 points and 6 rebounds.

Brownotter paced McLaughlin with 19 points; including three impressive board crashing rebounds from a 5-2 player. Jamerson had 16 points and 9 rebounds. Bad Horse chipped in 14 points.

The rebound war was close, 32-29 for Dell Rapids, and they out-shot McLaughlin 51 percent to 38 percent, although McLaughlin offset that with 8 threes.

“We had a tough time making adjustments on defense,” Head Coach Donna Taken Alive said after the game. “(Stofferahn) is pretty strong on the inside. She was boxing us out.”

Taken Alive was impressed with the play of Brownotter: “She’s my point guard. She’s like a stick of dynamite out there. She rebounds, too. She was in that big tall bunch of girls several times. She’s got a lot of heart.”

Only a junior, Brownotter returns next year, along with seven other girls. Taken Alive says losing Jayda Bad Horse to graduation “will be a huge loss,” but she says her girls learned a lot form the jump to A ball this season: “It’s been an amazing journey. We told them at the beginning of this year that we wanted them to challenge themselves, and they did that, just to make it to their first Class A tournament.”

Congratulations to St Thomas More for winning their third straight Class A title, defeating a double tough Winner team, 49-32 in the final.

(James Giago Davies can be reached at skindiesel@msn.com)

McLaughlin

22

5 17 13 OT 6 63
Webster Area 9 17 15 16 OT 9 66

West Central 13 21 17 16 67
McLaughlin 16 12 10 16 54
McLaughlin 12 22 14 14 62
Dell Rapids 13 20 17 21 71


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