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SD Class B Girls State Tournament Preview

The Class B tournament will be held in Rapid City in Summit Arena at the Monument. There are plenty of contenders and the rankings throughout the year have reflected that. Harding County is the only unbeaten team although Arlington, Centerville, and Warner are all unbeaten against Class B competition this year as well. Ethan spent the most time at number one in the polls and Wall and Lyman spent almost all year in the top five. Here's a breakdown of the action that starts up on Thursday. 

12 MT (1:00 CT)

PPG

OPP

 

1) Arlington 21-2

57.3

40.7

Coach Tara King: . “One of our focuses this year has been defensive intensity. I think we have done a good job with this each game and is something our girls have bought into. We want to play fast, create as much chaos as we can in the full court and then push the ball in transition off of these turnovers.”

8) James Valley Christian 16-6

54.1

40.7

Coach Krista Robinson: “These girls are physical and aren’t afraid to battle.  We had a tough regular season schedule with are 6 losses coming to 1 A school in overtime and the next 5 to teams in the top 10 in state all season, but those losses prepared us for post season play.”

  • Played Feb 8, Arlington won 49-47

  • Arlington’s two losses to Flandreau and Ethan, both have been #1 ranked teams in the polls this year



1:45 MT 

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OPP

 

4) Ethan 20-2

63.4

37.3

Coach Tom Young, “We are hoping to be competitive despite our lack of size. We have excellent team chemistry and great willingness to work and improve. I thoroughly enjoy coaching this group.”

5) Wall  19-4

64.6

44.0

Coach John Hess, “Coach Hess has built a very successful program since having started back in 2007-2008. It wasn't always perfect but he stuck it out and has built something to be proud of. He has led them to 7 district titles, 4 region championships, 3 SoDak 16 appearances and state runner ups. He has a record of 258-102 and is a very respectable coach in the area.

Nora, Paige and Alexis have been playing together since 1st grade. Assistant HS Coach Madison McLaughlin has coached them since they were in 5th grade and Coach McLaughlin was a former player of Coach Hess. Her freshman year of high school was Coach Hess' first year coaching in Wall. They have coached together since 2016.”

  • Ava Lingemann is the only 20 point scorer in the tourney and she averaged 7.7 APG, she has a 4.3:1 Assist to Turnover ratio !!!!

  • Wall gets almost as many offensive rebounds (144) as they do on defense (148)



6:00 MT 

PPG

OPP

 

2) Harding County 22-0

62.8

27.5

Coach Jay Wammen, “We have nine players who average between 4-12 points per game"

7) Lyman 20-2

61.4

36.7

Coach Cody Volmer, “I have watched a lot of game film on them and what I would say is tenacious,  they are going to play 90 feet of defensive pressure and force us to handle the ball or turn it over.  We would have a size advantage on them with length and height.  But they won’t be out worked.  Play 10 girls so keep the pace up to hopefully wear you down.  We like our matchup we feel our length and athletic ability gives us an edge and ability to not turn it over against pressure.  We don’t go as deep but will play 8 so we tend to keep our girls fresh also.  Looking for a fast paced game.”

  • Jaelyn Wendt has had 5 double-doubles this year and averaged over 10 RPG

  • HC averages 24.9 steals per game

  • Sophomore Mak Scott already has over 1000 career points and senior Skyler Volmer is committed to play at UND next season!




7:45 MT 

PPG

OPP

 

3) Centerville 21-2

60.4

36.0

Coach Tucker Tornberg, “Warner has a lot of length which they use well on both ends.  They have three six-footers who alter shots on defense and can score on offense.  They have talented guards who go along with them as well.  They want to push tempo and score fast, and they want to create turnovers on defense to convert to offense.  Keys to success for us will be being on time and doing our job both in transition defense and offense.  Offensively we will need to take care of the ball and be strong on drives to be able to finish.  We will stick to what has gotten us here which is to apply pressure defensively and play fast.  Rebounding will be a key statistic in this one I feel.  We are looking forward to a challenge from a great team!

6) Warner 21-2

52.3

34.8

Coach Tina Winter 

I think it’s definitely going to be a competitive game. We both appear to play a very similar style of basketball that is fast paced and fun to watch. They’ve got some very talented players who we’re going to have to lockdown and play clean defensively, and we just need to keep playing light and together on the offensive side, like we have been all season, and good things will happen for us. 

  • Centerville’s only losses to Class A teams Wagner and Flandreau

  • Warner’s only losses to Class A teams Roncalli and Florence/Henry

Leading Scorers in the State Tournament


Filed Under Basketball | Varsity Sports | SD High School