Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley, Dells City Journal
Dell Rapids St Mary and Colman-Egan met for the third time this season on Tuesday, March 3rd, this time in the second round of the Region 4B Tournament. The Cardinals had beaten the Hawks in the previous two meetings, but on this night Colman-Egan went home victorious with a 67-49 win.
The Cardinals scored the first four points of the game and held an 11-7 lead with 3:45 to play in the first quarter. Colman-Egan answered by scoring the next eight points of the quarter for a 15-11 lead heading into the second quarter. The Hawks never trailed from that point. Colman-Egan pushed the lead to seven points by the midway point of the second quarter, and then to 11 points at 32-21 at halftime.
St Mary made little spurts throughout the third quarter, but Colman-Egan would answer every time. The Hawks were able to keep a nine-to-fifteen point lead over the Cardinals and led 48-35 heading into the fourth quarter. St Mary scored the first three points of the fourth quarter to pull within 10 points at 48-38 with 7:19 to play in the game, but that was as close as St Mary would get. Colman-Egan was able to break the full-court pressure for easy layups and then make their free throws down the stretch for the upset win.
The Cardinals finished the game shooting 33% (19-58) in the game, 23% (5-22) from three-point area, and 55% (6-11) from the free-throw line. St Mary had 22 team rebounds. Colman-Egan, however, shot 54% (22-41) from the field, 54% (7-13) from three-point area, and 64% (16-25) from the free-throw line. The Hawks also had 38 team rebounds.
Connor Libis had 27 points, five rebounds, and three steals for St Mary. Weston Geraets had seven points, eight rebounds, and three assists. Max Herber finished with six points. Colman-Egan had four players finish in double figures. Dalton Voelker had 21 points, 19 rebounds, and five assists. Nate Tolley had 16 points and six rebounds. Chase Hemmer finished with 13 points and three rebounds, and Wyatt Bush had 10 points.
St Mary finishes their season with a 15-6 overall record. Colman-Egan will advance in the tournament and play Sanborn Central/Woonsocket on Friday, March 6th in Mitchell.