STURGIS, SD – The Sturgis Scooper basketball teams hosted the Lead Deadwood Golddiggers at West Gymnasium on Friday night and came away with two victories.
The Scooper girls used a smothering defense to jump out to a quick 16-1 lead after the first quarter and extended their lead to 33-6 at the half. Sophomore point guard Tori Williams was on fire in the second half, dropping in four three-pointers on her way to a 28-point performance, her best output of the season. The Sturgis girls took care of the basketball in the second half, committing only five turnovers and cruised to a 66-12 victory over the Diggers.
Sturgis shot 34% from the field and made 73% of their free throws, canning 14 of 19. The Scoopers grabbed 25 rebounds had good ball security, committing only 10 turnovers in the game. Addy Kossler, the Qwik Mart – Sturgis Subs Player of the Week, added 11 points for the Scoopers. The Sturgis girls improved to 2-5 on the year. Lead Deadwood falls to 0-11.
The boy’s contest was a much closer affair, at least in the first half, as Lead Deadwood had a 21-19 lead after one quarter and took a 37-36 lead into the locker room at halftime. In the locker room during intermission, Scooper head coach Dan Skinner wasn’t worried about the Golddigger lead.
“Honestly, we didn’t make any adjustments,” Skinner said. “We walked into the locker room and told those guys that we need to lock in on the defensive end. We need to stop being so soft and stop letting them dictate everything. We stepped up and they only scored five points in that third quarter.”
The Scoopers came out with a stingy man-to-man defense in the second half, holding the Diggers to just five third quarter points and scoring 23 of their own to take a 59-42 lead. Sturgis outscored Lead Deadwood in the fourth to earn the 71-52 win.
“We’re a young team,” Skinner said. “We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing and ask guys to buy in, to lock in during practice. We’re kind of figuring out how to prepare mentally and physically.”
The Scooper boys shot 38% from the field and made 16 of 23 free throws for 69%. Sturgis had 37 rebounds and committed 13 turnovers. Junior forward Ryan Heinert led all scorers with 27 points and six boards. Teigen Wormstadt chipped in 15 points with Carter Williams adding seven points and 10 rebounds. The Scooper boys improved to 2-5 on the year.
Lead Deadwood dropped to 3-8 on the season and shot 32% from the field and 70% from the charity stripe, converting seven of 10 free throws. Jaxon Burleson had 17 points for the Diggers, including two three-pointers. Beau Wichterman added 13 points.
The Scoopers are in action next on Tuesday at West Gym as they host the Hill City Rangers.
