SIOUX FALLS, SD – The Sioux Falls O’Gorman Lady Knights, ranked number one in class AA girls basketball, punch their ticket to the state tournament with a 56–32 victory over the Sturgis Scoopers on Friday night.
The Lady Knights came into the contest on a 46 game winning streak dating back to 2023. The defending state champs have rolled over the opposition all year long, averaging 65 points per game. The Scoopers were on a five game winning streak coming into Friday night’s game and have held teams to 42 points per game defensively, one of the best averages in the state.
O’Gorman used a full-court press to force eight Sturgis turnovers in the first quarter and led 19–3 headed into the second. The Lady Knights out scored the Scoopers 18–7 in the second quarter to extend their lead at halftime to 37–9.
Sturgis head coach Courtney Pool made some halftime adjustments and the Scoopers came out firing after intermission, outscoring O’Gorman 14–9 to cut into the Lady Knight lead.
Scooper forward Kierra Killinger had a solid second half, dropping in 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, but the O’Gorman lead was insurmountable, and the lady Knights held on for a 56–32 victory.
Sioux Falls O’Gorman (21-0) was led by Sydney Terveen with 19 points. The Lady Knights made 22 of 57 shots from the field (38%), seven of eight free throws (87%), committed 12 turnovers and grabbed 25 rebounds.
The Scoopers finished their season with 10 wins and 11 losses. Sturgis was led by Killinger with 10 points. Addy Kossler scored seven points and Avreigh Long chipped in five. The Scoopers shot 32% from the field (12 of 37) and 58% from the stripe (7 of 12). Sturgis committed 27 turnovers and snared 15 boards.
”They settled down a little bit at halftime,” said Scooper head coach Courtney Pool. “It’s hard to know what kind of game it is when you play a team that is unbeaten until you get there. We definitely challenged our girls at halftime time to execute the things we worked on for the past week and they did a much better job. We wanted to compete. I am unbelievably proud of our whole crew. They take their roles on the team seriously and were a scrappy bunch. I was proud of skill improvement and execution the last half of the season. Honestly they were a really fun group to be around and we will miss our seniors.”
The Scoopers graduate four seniors: Avreigh Long, Kylee Phillips, Avery Marler and Natalie Ewing.
O’Gorman enters the State AA girls basketball tournament as the number one seed, and take on crosstown rival Sioux Falls Jefferson at the Monument in Rapid City on Thursday at noon.
