Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley, Dells City Journal
The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal girls basketball team made multiple rallies against the Deubrook Area Dolphins on Thursday, January 16th, and every time the Dolphins were able to hold off the Cardinals and come away with a 52-42 win.
Deubrook Area scored the first seven points of the first quarter and led 10-2 with 2:00 to play. The Cardinals then scored the next six points to pull within two points at 10-8. Deubrook Area ended the first quarter leading 13-8. The Dolphins carried the momentum into the second quarter and scored the first five points to push the lead to 18-8. The Cardinals responded and cut the lead in half at 18-13 with about 6:00 to play in the half. Deubrook answered with a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to lead 27-13 with 3:00 left in the second quarter. Deubrook Area led 27-16 at halftime.
St Mary started the second half on a 5-0 run to cut the lead down to six points at 27-21. The Dolphins kept a seven-to-ten point lead through much of the third quarter and led 36-26 heading into the fourth quarter. Deubrook Area scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter and increased their lead to a game-high 17 points at 43-26 with 5:00 to go in the game. St Mary would not go away quietly. The Cardinals went on a 10-0 run with cut the lead to 43-36 with about 3:00 to go. St Mary then had a good look at a three-point shot with 2:30 to play that would have cut the lead to four points, but the shot spun out of the rim. At that point Deubrook Area was able to regain their composure and make enough free throws down the stretch for the 10-point win.
The Cardinals finished the game shooting 28% (13-46) from the field, 26% (6-23) from three-point area, and 67% (10-15) from the free throw line. They also had 22 team rebounds and 12 steals.
Ella Heinitz had 17 points and four rebounds. Courtney Brown had 11 points. Ella Griffin finished with nine points and three rebounds. Karlie Klein had a team-high five rebounds. Deubrook was led by Andrea Vandermeer with 15 points and Baylee Holmlund with 11 points. Claire Olsen had 11 rebounds.
St Mary (5-5) will play Estelline/Hendricks in Estelline at 7:30 p.m. in the opening round of the DVC Tournament on Tuesday, January 21st.