The Hanson Beaverettes took advantage of 38 trips to the free-throw line and defeated the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals 51-38 in Huron on Thursday, February 25th.  The win sends Hanson to the SoDak 16.

The first quarter was close throughout, and Hanson was able to take a three-point lead, 11-8, into the second quarter.  St Mary was only able to score two points in the second quarter, and the Beaverettes took advantage building a 26-10 halftime lead.

Hanson pushed the lead to 20 points early in the third quarter, but the Cardinals got their offense going and cut the lead in half by the end of the third quarter.  Hanson led 34-24 heading into the final quarter.  Every time the Cardinals tried to make a run, the Beaverettes made free throws to keep the Cardinals at bay.

St Mary finished the game shooting 38% (15-40) from the field, 24% (4-17) from three-point area, and 36% (4-11) from the free-throw line.  The difference in the game came down to the free-throw advantage.  Hanson was 25-38 from the free-throw line and also out-rebounded St Mary 51-23.

Ella Heinitz had nine points, six rebounds, two assists, and two steals.  Addyson Gilbert had nine points.  Ella Griffin finished with eight points, four rebounds, and a steal.  Brianna Griffin added five points.

The Cardinals season comes to an end with a 15-7 record.

Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley

With :18.6 left in the game, the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals trailed 47-46 and had the entire length of the court in front of them.  Ella Heinitz dribbled past the Howard Tiger defense, found Courtney Brown wide open in the left corner, and Brown sank the three-point shot with :10 to go.  The Tigers had two shots to tie the game in the final seconds fall off the rim no good, and the Cardinals won 49-47 to advance in the Region 4B tournament.

The battle between the #5 seeded Cardinals and the #4 seeded Tigers was as close and back-and-forth as one might expect for a #4-#5 match-up in Howard on Tuesday, February 23rd.

The game was scoreless for the first couple of minutes until Ella Griffin made a three-pointer.  That shot opened up the scoring as the Cardinals took an 8-3 lead.  Howard got the game tied 10-10, but St Mary finished the quarter on a 4-0 run to lead 14-10 at the break.  The Tigers scored the first five points of the second quarter for a 15-14 lead, but the Cardinals responded with a 9-2 run for a 23-19 lead.  The Cardinals were able to keep the lead and push it to 30-25 by halftime.

Howard came out of halftime and went on a big run.  The Tigers opened the third quarter on a 13-0 run and held a 38-30 lead.  Karlie Klein finally got the Cardinals on the board with 1:55 to play in the quarter.  Madala Hanson made a three-pointer from the right wing to pull the Cardinals within three at 38-35 with about :15 left in the quarter.   The score remained 38-35 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers maintained a three-to-four point lead through much of the beginning of the fourth quarter.  The lead grew to seven, 45-38, after a three-pointer by Kenedy Koepsell.  Heinitz made a shot in the lane to cut the lead to 45-40.  St Mary stole the inbound, and Hanson made another three-pointer with just over 2:00 to play to make the score 45-43.  After a defensive stop, Hanson banked in another three-pointer with 1:37 to go to give St Mary a 46-45 lead.  Kate Conner made two free-throws with :19.6 to give Howard the lead at 47-46.  The Cardinals called a timeout to set up the game winning play.

Heinitz led the Cardinals with 15 points and two rebounds.  Hanson had 13 points, four rebounds, and three steals.  K. Klein and Brown both finished with six points.  K. Klein also had five rebounds.  Griffin added five points and six rebounds.  Howard was led by K. Conner with 20 points and 15 rebounds.  Abby Connor had 13 points and 10 rebounds.  Koepsell finished with nine points and six assists.

St Mary improves to 15-6.  The Cardinals will play #1 seed Hanson in Huron on Thursday, February 25th.  Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal girls finished their regular season at home on Thursday, February 18th against the Elk Point-Jefferson Huskies.  The Cardinals won their fourteenth game of the year with a 46-38 victory.

St Mary got out to an 11-point lead by the end of the first quarter at 16-5.  The Huskies cut the lead down to six points by halftime.  St Mary led 25-19.  Elk Point-Jefferson again cut into the lead by the end of the third quarter.  The Cardinals held a five-point lead, 35-30, heading into the final quarter.  St Mary outscored the Huskies 11-8 in the final quarter for the win.

The Cardinals shot 41% (15-37) from the field, 24% (5-21) from three-point area, and 85% (11-13) from the free-throw line.  The Huskies were 35% from the field, 24% from three-point area, and 63% from the free-throw line.  St Mary had 24 team rebounds, 13 points off turnovers, and 16 points in the paint.

Ella Heinitz had 14 points, four rebounds, three steals, and an assists.  Karlie Klein had nine points.  Courtney Brown finished with six points, seven rebounds, and three steals, and Ella Griffin had six points, four assists, and three rebounds.

St Mary’s regular season ends with a 14-6 record.  The Region 4B tournament runs the week of February 22nd.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal girls hit a five minute scoring drought in the fourth quarter which helped the Centerville Tornadoes get a 53-45 win on Tuesday, February 16th.

St Mary found themselves down six points after the first quarter at 11-5.  Centerville added to that lead in the second quarter and held a 23-15 halftime advantage.  The Cardinals got into a groove midway through the third quarter.  They erased the eight-point halftime deficit and held a 32-31 lead heading into the final quarter.  St Mary extended their lead to six points, 41-35, after a made three-pointer by Ella Griffin with 5:30 to play.  The Cardinals did not score for the next five minutes.  Centerville used that drought to take the lead back and push it to eight points at 49-41.  Madala Hanson made a free-throw to cut the lead to 49-42 with :28 left in the game.  The Tornadoes made all eight of their free throws in the fourth quarter to take the win.

The Cardinals shot 32% (17-53) from the field, 32% (6-19) from three-point area, and five-for-six from the free-throw line.  They had 24 team rebounds, 13 team assists, but turned the ball over 13 times.

Griffin led the team in scoring with 13 points and also had three rebounds and three steals.  Courtney Brown had 10 points three rebounds, three steals, and two assists.  Addyson Gilbert, Ella Heinitz, and Karlie Klein all had four points each.

St Mary (13-6) will finish the regular season at home against Elk Point-Jefferson on Thursday, February 18th.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

The shooting percentage for both teams was about as cold as the air outside on Monday, February 15th at Dell Rapids St Mary High School.  The Cardinals defeated the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland Raiders 43-31.

Both teams finished under 30% shooting for the game in a tough shooting night as the two teams fought back and forth through three quarters.  The game was tied 6-6 at the end of the first quarter.  St Mary held a one-point lead at 13-12 at halftime.

The Cardinals started the third quarter on a 5-0 run for an 18-12 lead.  Oldham-Ramona/Rutland responded with a 10-0 run to for a 22-18 advantage.  St Mary went on another run, this time 6-0, to regain the lead 24-22.  The third quarter ended in a 26-26 time.  The Raiders scored the first point of the fourth quarter for a 27-26 lead with 6:30 to play.  St Mary’s offense finally got going at that point in the game and went on a 14-0 run for a 40-27 lead with 1:45 to play and secure the win.

St Mary shot 29% (15-52) from the field, 26% (6-23) from three-point area, and 58% (7-12) from the free-throw line.  The Raiders finished the game shooting 24% (12-51) from the field, 18% (3-17) from three-point area, and 57% (4-7) from the free-throw line.

Ella Griffin had 13 points to lead the Cardinals scoring.  Ella Heinitz had 12 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.  Courtney Brown had six points, five rebounds, two steals, and two assists.  Karlie Klein had a team-high 12 rebounds.

The Cardinals (13-5) will play in Centerville on Tuesday, February 16th.   The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.