UNDATED – The South Dakota Girls Class AA, A And B Basketball Tournaments wrapped up Saturday night as champions were crowned in all three classes.
In the Class AA game, Rapid City Stevens was looking for their first championship against top-seeded Sioux Falls Washington.
The Warriors, however, showed why they were the team to beat this year as they quickly jumped out to a 14-5 lead in the first quarter. The Raiders couldn’t turn things around in the second quarter, and after only scoring 2 points, trailed the Warriors 24-10 at halftime.
The second half was much better for Stevens as they clamped down on defense and were able to cut the deficit down to 8 in the fourth quarter. Washington, however, was too much, and connecting on their free throws down the stretch, pulled away for a 43-26 win.
Bailey Sobczak led Rapid City Stevens with 11 points and Jayda McNabb added 7.
Washington was led by Eden Hullinger’s 13 points.
Stevens shot just 18-percent from the floor while the Warriors shot 36-percent.
At halftime of the Class AA game, Isabel Moore of Sioux Falls O’Gorman was awarded the Spirit of Su Award.
In the Class A Championship game, Aberdeen Roncalli defeated Hamlin 48-31. Roncalli came in the fourth seed and knocked off perennial powerhouse St Thomas More to punch their ticket to the championship game.
And at the State B Girls Championship game, White River made history on Saturday night in Huron as the Lady Tigers defeated Castlewood 57-37 to win their first ever girls state basketball championship.
The Lady Tigers were led by a couple of special seniors, Caelyn Valandra-Prue and Maleighya Estes. In the state championship game they combined for 42-points.
Valandra-Prue entered the state tournament at No. 11 (2,462) on the all-time South Dakota high school girls basketball individual scoring list, and on Saturday night she finished her high school career at No. 8 (2,536) – just five-points behind basketball legend SuAnne Big Crow of Pine Ridge.
