The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals girls basketball team took fifth place at the Dakota Valley Conference tournament this year. The Cardinals ended the tournament with a 47-43 overtime win against the Colman-Egan Hawks at Elkton on Saturday, January 20th.
The Cardinals opened up the DVC tournament on Tuesday, January 16th at Deubrook High School with a 67-51 loss to Lake Preston. St Mary followed that with a 47-14 win over Oldham-Ramona/Rutland on Friday, January 19th to advance to the 5th/6th place game against Colman-Egan.
Colman-Egan had an early lead of two points with 6:31 to go in the first quarter, but St Mary led for most of the game. The Cardinals held an 11-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Hawks cut the lead to a point at 21-20 at halftime. St Mary pushed the to 10 points with 2:02 to go in the third quarter, but Colman-Egan cut the lead to 36-29 by the end of the quarter. The Hawk defense held St Mary to just four points in the final quarter and made a three-point shot at the buzzer to send the game into overtime tied 40-40. St Mary responded in the overtime period by outscoring Colman-Egan 7-3, and Sydney Cook made two clutch free throws with :05 left in the overtime to secure the victory for the Cardinals.
Cook led the team with 17 points and nine rebounds in the game. Ella Heinitz had 13 points and three assists. Maddie Schwebach finished with eight points and eight rebounds, and Cassy Geraets had six points in the game.
St Mary (5-7) will host Baltic on Monday, January 22nd. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.