STURGIS, SD — The Rapid City Central Cobbler girls and boys teams were victorious over the Sturgis Scoopers on Friday night at West Gymnasium.
In the first game of the evening, the Cobbler girls got by the Scoopers 52-34. Sturgis looked good in the first quarter as they handled the Central pressure and took care of the basketball. Freshman Tori Williams came out on fire as she scored seven in the first half. Sturgis trailed the Cobblers 16-14 after one quarter, but couldn’t manage a point in the second quarter and were down 26-14 at the half.
Rapid City Central outscored Sturgis 11-5 in the third quarter but the Scoopers came alive in the fourth, putting up 15 points but didn’t gain any ground on the Cobblers who earned their fourth win of the season. Scooper head coach Courtney Pool says the team had a great practice on Wednesday but there are still lapses during the games that hurt the team down the stretch in games.
“We’re kind of heartbroken because we thought we could sneak up and get this one,” Pool said. “And it looked like we had a good chance to do it. I’m hoping maybe this will build our team’s confidence, that game experience type of thing. I could just cry. I love these kids to death because they won’t give up.”
Sturgis (0-7) was led by Williams with 10 points. Landry Haugen added nine points, with Rachael Banks chipping in seven points and seven rebounds. The Scoopers shot 24% from the field and were 8 of 16 from the charity stripe. Sturgis had 30 turnovers and 29 rebounds.
Rapid City Central (4-3) shot 33% from the field, 53% from the free throw line, had 23 turnovers and 32 rebounds. Telia Jiron canned 17 points for the Cobblers with three three-pointers and Aaliyah Jones added 13 points and eight rebounds.
In the boys matchup, Central outscored Sturgis 20-9 in the fourth quarter to win, 60-55.
The Scoopers jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the first quarter and led 26-22 at the half as sophomore Ryan Heinert was hitting shots all over the court, scoring 13 by the half. Sturgis led Central 46-40 at the intermission.
The Scoopers led by six at the end of the third and extended that lead to 49-40 in the fourth quarter but Rapid City Central got on track from the field and from the charity stripe, outscoring Sturgis down the stretch to take the win. The Scooper shot selection had head coach Derris Buus concerned late in the game.
“We just didn’t take great shots,” said Buus. “We got a little worn down so we need to do a better job being prepared physically. I thought we got down to the end and didn’t finish the game. We did a good job in the first half, extending our lead, but we need to finish the game. Our goals are still in front of us. We have Stevens on Tuesday so we need to get back on the horse and be prepared to compete.”
The Scoopers (2-4) made 20 of 54 shots from the field for 37% and hit 11 of 14 charity tosses for 78%. Sturgis committed seven turnovers and snared 19 rebounds. Heinert led the Scoopers with 24 points and Dysen Peterson added 16.
Rapid City Central improved to 3-5 on the season and was led by Shun-Zi White Woman with 21 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Lincoln Archambeault dropped in 10 points for the Cobblers, who as a team shot 47% from the field, 54% from the free throw line, had 10 turnovers and 25 rebounds.
The Scooper boys and girls travel to Rapid City Stevens to take on the Raiders on Tuesday night. Girls tip-off is scheduled for 6:30pm.
