The Dell Rapids Quarrier girls basketball team finished the Big Sioux Conference Tournament 1-2. In the first game played Thursday, January 10th, Tri-Valley defeated Dell Rapids 52-33. Tri-Valley held a 23-17 half time lead. Corynn Hoff had eight points in the game. Mikaela Stofferahn finished with seven points and five rebounds. Karen Eddy also had seven points. The Quarriers shot just 22% from the field, 50% (4-8) from the free throw line, and were out-rebounded 26-19. Head coach Jeff Dvorak said, “We started the game so well – hit some threes, contained their bigs and took care of the basketball. In fact the score was 20-23 a few minutes into the third quarter. Then we just quit scoring. If we can find a way to score consistently, we will be able to compete. Right now our defense is fairly solid, but we just can’t put the ball in the hole. Give Tri-Valley credit; they have three six-footers on the floor most of the game who know what they’re doing along with two or three girls who can hit the three. They’re a very good team.”
On Friday, January 11th, the Quarriers fell to Dakota Valley in the second round, 61-39. Dakota Valley jumped out to a 22-5 lead in the first quarter, and the Panthers held a 34-23 lead at halftime. Dell Rapids shot 30% from the field and 46% (11-24) from the free throw line. Dakota Valley also forced 21 Dell Rapids turnovers in the game. Julia Rice had eight points and six rebounds. Averi Pankonen and Eddy each scored five points. Stofferahn grabbed seven rebounds. Dvorak said, “Unfortunately, we lost this game before the tip. We were just not ready to go at all when the game started. Our guards have to be able to handle the pressure better at the onset of the game. After the first quarter, the guards and everyone stepped up and we quickly cut the gap to 19-24, but it was too big of a hole to dig out of. Right now we are fragile and can’t afford any lack of focus or energy. We made a step backward tonight – after two pretty solid efforts in our last two games – so we need to focus on getting back on an upward track.”
The Quarriers picked up a win against Tea Area on Saturday, January 12th, in the final game of the conference tournament, 52-32. Dell Rapids had a 30-16 lead at halftime. Rachel Devlin recorded the Quarriers’ first double-double of the year, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. J. Rice had eight points and nine rebounds in the game. Hoff had six points and five assists. Dell Rapids shot 25% from the field in the game, 67% (16-24) from the free-throw line, and only committed seven turnovers in the game. The Quarriers also had nine players score in the game. Coach Dvorak was pleased with the clean game Dell Rapids played.
“Tea has the ability to disrupt you as they have some athleticism, and I thought we handled that well and played a very well-rounded game. Even though we only shot 25%, we had a very balanced attack – with 3’s, offensive put-backs, strong post shots and penetration. It was a step forward that we must continue in the second half.”
Dell Rapids is now 3-7 on the year and will host West Central on Tuesday, January 15th.