Celebrating Double 281 Conference Tourney Champions in a SPARTANS SWEEP

Spartans fans were treated to a wild ride during last week’s 281 Tournament journey, as both the boys and girls basketball teams advanced through the ranks to the championship round.

Both the boys and girls Spartans faced off against the Sanborn Central / Woonsocket Blackhawks, emerging victorious and leaving the Huron Arena with the 281 Conference title.

Spartans Boys 281 Tournament Champs

During the championship round of the 281 Conference basketball tournament, the Wessington Springs Spartans boys delivered a 61-47 win over the Sanborn Central/ Woonsocket Blackhawks Thursday night in the Huron Arena.

“I look at this as a nice, fitting way to end our halfway point of the season,” said Coach Kenny Huether. “Leading up to this, during the first half of the season, we came into the year with high hopes based on what we accomplished last year — in reaching the SoDak 16 and winning 14 of 16.”

In the 281 Conference title game, the Spartans jumped to 21-16 lead after the first quarter, with Parker Graff scoring 11 of the Spartans 21 points. Wessington Springs held a 34-24 lead at halftime.

“We were coming off a real scare with the James Valley game. James Valley was really good that night and we weren’t for about two and a half quarters,” Huether said, referring to the 58-56 come-from-behind win over the James Valley Christian Vikings. “To survive that game and win in thrilling fashion brought us into the championship.”

When the Spartans discovered they were facing off against the Blackhawks, he said they knew they were in for a battle.

“Sanborn Central/Woonsocket has a big long team and can put a lot of size on the floor,” he said. “But we are an athletic team with a lot of speed and we were ready from the outset.

Inthethirdquarter,theBlackhawks cut the margin to four points, 41-37. Then, in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, the Spartans went on a 13-2 run and in combination with hitting free throws, Wessington Springs held on for the win. Graff scored 24 points to lead the Spartans and Ryder Michalek added 16.

Now sitting at 9-1 on the season, Coach Huether points specifically to significant areas that have contributed to the Spartans success.

“We have become a better team defensively. Last year we were giving up 50 points — and now this year, we are at 39.5. In Class B, we are rated number two defensively in the points we give up per game. We are also taking much better care of the ball,” he said. “We have a couple dreams we are chasing. We want to be the top scoring defense in Class B. The strength of schedule plays in and we have a lot of tough games ahead.”

Another goal for the Spartans is to get the first seed in their region, and Coach Huether said the competition is fierce.

“We’ve got tough competition with Gregory and Tripp-Delmont/ Armour. Both will end up with strong records and there’s not much room for error,” he explained. “Every game we play we are chasing a win. If we attain it, it will certainly help seeding-wise in post season.”

While Coach Huether is thrilled with what the Spartans are doing defensively, he said offense is shooting the ball “ok” but not at the same level as last year.

“We have not peaked yet offensively, we are still chasing that. Again, we’ve got a lot of tough tests and strong opponents and we are going to take it one game at a time.”

Huether said he and the boys are thankful for the fan support and excited about the double championship title earned by the Spartans boys and girls last Thursday.

“It’s such an exciting time. I’m thrilled for the girls and Coach Kolousek, they are having a great season. We want the girls to know we appreciate how much they support us,” Huether said. “It’s great to see the crowd get behind both teams, it makes the double header nights a lot of fun. It’s a good time to be a Spartans fan!”

Spartans Girls 281 Tournament Champs

BY HEAD GIRLS BASKETBALL COACH JASON KOLOUSEK

The Wessington Springs Spartans girls basketball team won the 281 conference tournament by winning three games.

First round: The Wessington Springs Spartans girls won their opening round 281 conference tournament game by a score of 51-14 over Sunshine Bible Academy.  The Spartans started off strong and took a 20-2 lead after one quarter of play.   The Spartans kept it going in 2nd quarter outscoring SBA 20-6 and took a 40-8 lead into halftime.   The 2nd half went fast with running clock and Spartans outscoring SBA 11-6 to secure the 51-14 victory. Avery Orth led the scoring with 14 points.   Carissa Scheel had 10 points and six rebounds.   Kerstynn Heim chipped in nine points.   

Second Round: In the semi-finals of the 281 tournament, the Spartans survived a close game vs James Valley Christian coming up with a tight 41-39 win.  The first quarter went back and forth and JVC led after one quarter 11-10. There was not much scoring in the 2nd  quarter and JVC led 19-16 going into halftime.   The Spartans came out strong in 3rd quarter by outscoring JVC 17-12 to take a 33-31 lead into 4th quarter.   Carissa Scheel had strong 3rd quarter by scoring 12 of her team high 19 points.   The final quarter was tightly played with both teams scoring eight points and the Spartans used some late defensive stops to secure the 41-39 victory. To go along with Scheel’s 19 points, Avery Orth put in 13 points and pulled down 18 rebounds.   Kerstynn Heim had five points and 10 rebounds.  Alyssa Grohs had five assists and nine rebounds.

Championship: The Spartans girls basketball team were in the 281 championship for the second year in a row.   This time they would be matched up with Sanborn Central/Woonsocket.  The game started going back and forth, but SCW was able to break open towards end of first quarter and led 15-10.    With two minutes remaining in the first half SCW held a 24-15 lead and had the ball.  The Spartans were able to get a defensive stop and Alyssa Grohs pushed the ball down the court and found Addy Orth for a layup.   The Spartans got another stop and on the Spartans offensive possession Raylee Fagerhaug was fouled and went to the free throw line and made both free throws.   With just a few seconds remaining in the half Avery Orth was fouled and made one of two free throws to make the score 24-20 in favor of SCW going into halftime.  The Spartans were able to outscore SCW 9-5 in the third quarter the game was tied at 29 going into the fourth.

In the fourth, the Spartans were able to build a five point lead late but SCW cut into that lead and the Spartans led 38-36 with 11 seconds remaining and SCW had the ball. SCW was able to hit a long two point shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 38 and send the game into overtime. In overtime, neither team could get a basket.   Late in overtime Raylee Fagerhaug collected a rebound and was fouled with four seconds left and headed to the line for two shots.   Raylee sunk both free throws for the 40-38 lead.   

SCW’s desperation three pointer at the buzzer was no good and the Spartans were 281 conference tournament champions. The win puts the Spartans’ record at 8-2 on the season.