The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal girls basketball team hosted the Colman-Egan Hawks to open the 2018-2019 season on Friday, December 7th.  After getting out to an early 8-0 lead, the Cardinals fell to the Hawks by a score of 44-55.

St Mary scored the first eight points of the game in the first half of the opening quarter.  The Hawks tied the game at 8-8, but St Mary finished the quarter on a 3-0 run to take an 11-8 lead after the first quarter.  The two teams closed out the first half in a 25-25 tie.

The Cardinals held a slim 30-29 lead two minutes into the third quarter, but Colman-Egan rallied for eight straight points in the next minute and a half to take a 37-30 lead.  St Mary cut the lead to 36-40 by the end of the third quarter.  However, Colman-Egan outscored the Cardinals 15-8 in the final quarter for the win.

Ella Griffin finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, and five steals.  Ella Heinitz had 11 points, six steals, and four rebounds.  Maddie Schwebach finished with seven points and 12 rebounds.  Clare Klein added six points, five rebounds, and two assists.  Cassie Mullaney and Tana Harrington both had 10 rebounds each.  Madison Voelker and Mackenzie Hemmer both finished with 10 points each for Colman-Egan.

St Mary (0-1) will host Mitchell Christian as part of a double-header on Tuesday, December 11th.  Both games can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

The 2017-2018 season came to an end for the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals on Tuesday, February 20th in Huron.  The Cardinals fell to the Ethan Rustlers 65-26 in the quarterfinals of the Region 4B tournament at the Huron Arena.

St Mary trailed by only seven points, 16-9, after the first quarter, but had trouble on the offensive side of the ball the remainder of the game.  The Rustlers put some distance between themselves and the Cardinals in the second quarter by outscoring St Mary 21-6.  Ethan led 37-12 at halftime.  The Rustlers continued to grow the lead in the second half outscoring the Cardinals 28-12.

The Cardinals finished the game shooting 29% from the field, 22% from three-point area, and 75% from the free-throw line.  Ethan finished the game shooting 66% from the field.  St Mary had a total of 12 team rebounds and were forced into 21 turnovers.

Ella Heinitz had a team-high 14 points and two steals.  Clare Klein had four points and two steals.  Cassy Geraets, Maddie Schwebach, Sydney Cook, and Cassie Mullaney all finished with two points each.

St Mary finished the season with a record of 10-12.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal girls cruised to an opening round win in the Region 4B tournament on Monday, February 19th.  The Cardinals defeated the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland Raiders 63-30 in front of their home crowd at St Mary High School.  Every varsity player for the Cardinals got into the stat book in some way on the night.

St Mary scored on their first three shot attempts and never failed to lead in the game.  The Cardinals led 15-8 after the first quarter.  They were able to grow the lead to 14 points by halftime at 32-18.  St Mary kept rolling in the second half as they increased the lead to 23 points by the end of third quarter at 49-26.  The Raiders were held to just four points in the final quarter by the Cardinal defense as the St Mary offense scored 14 more points.

Three players finished in double figures in points for the Cardinals.  Ella Heinitz had 16 points, nine rebounds, five steals, and five assists.  Sydney Cook added 15 points, six rebounds and two assists.  Maddie Schwebach ended with 12 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals.  Cassie Mullaney recorded nine points in the game.  Courtney Brown had four points, and Cassy Geraets, Carly Maxwell, and Clare Klein all had two points.  Karlie Klein had one point and three rebounds.  Adyn Heinricy had one rebound and one assist.  Tana Harrington had two rebounds, and Addy Gilbert had a rebound.

St Mary (10-11) will advance to play the Ethan Rustlers at 6:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the Region 4B tournament.  The game will be held at the Huron Arena.

A fourth quarter rally gave the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals a win on Senior Night on Thursday, February 15th.  Playing in their final regular season game of the year at home, the Cardinals used a 20-6 fourth quarter to defeat the Hendricks Grizzlies 47-41.

Neither team was able to get much of an advantage in the first half.  The two teams traded baskets over the first sixteen minutes.  The Cardinals had a slim 12-11 lead after the first quarter, and they were able to keep that one-point lead at 21-20 heading into halftime.

The Grizzlies has a big third quarter offensively and defensively.  They held St Mary to just six points and scored 15 points themselves to take a 35-27 lead into the fourth quarter.  The Grizzlies pushed the lead to 10 points at 39-29 with 6:40 to go in the game.  That’s when the Cardinals took over the game.  St Mary held Hendricks to just two points the remainder of the quarter while scoring 18 to get the win.

Ella Heinitz had 16 points in the win along with five rebounds.  Maddie Schwebach finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.

All three seniors had a solid game for the Cardinals.  Sydney Cook had nine points and eight rebounds.  Cassy Geraets added six points and seven rebounds.  Adyn Heinricy tallied three points and three rebounds.

The Cardinals finished the regular season with a record of 9-11.  The Region 4B Tournament will begin on Monday, February 19th.

In their final road game of the regular season, the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal girls basketball team lost a Dakota Valley Conference game to the Colman-Egan Hawks 55-44 on Tuesday, February 13th, at Colman-Egan High School.  The score was tied seven times and there were 10 lead changes.

The first quarter went back and forth and was close throughout.  The Hawks ended the first quarter with a one-point lead at 14-13.  St Mary grabbed the lead in the second quarter.  The Cardinals outscored Colman-Egan 13-10 for a 26-24 halftime lead.  They took their largest lead of the game with 7:24 to go in the third quarter, however Colman-Egan regained the lead and led 38-36 heading into the final quarter.  The Hawks outscored St Mary 17-8 in the final quarter to pull away for the victory.

The Cardinals finished the game shooting 38% from the field, but only 33% in the second half.  They were 36% from three-point area and 60% from the free-throw line.  St Mary was out rebounded 36-29 and had 17 turnovers.

Ella Heinitz led the team with 16 points and six rebounds.  Maddie Schwebach had 10 points and eight rebounds.  Sydney Cook finished with eight points, eight rebounds, and four blocked shots.  Clare Klein and Adyn Heinricy both had four points each.  Colman-Egan was led by Mackenzie Hemmer with 15 points and Haleigh Nicol and Braiden Westley both with 12 points each.

St Mary (8-11) will end the regular season at home on Senior Night against Hendricks, MN on Thursday, February 15th.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals couldn’t quite overcome an early first quarter deficit against the Elkton-Lake Benton Elks on Friday, February 9th.  St Mary fell 64-54 to the Elks at Dell Rapids St Mary High School.

The Elks got an early 11-2 lead halfway through the first quarter.  Their lead grew to 13 points by the end of the first quarter at 20-7.  The Cardinals were able to cut the lead to nine points by halftime at 32-23.  The Elks again pushed their lead to 13 points at 44-31 with 2:30 to go in the third quarter.  That is when St Mary went on a run.  St Mary finished the third quarter on a 9-3 run to cut the Elkton-Lake Benton lead to seven points at 47-40.  Ella Heinitz made a three-point shot from the right wing to start the fourth quarter to bring the Cardinals to within four points at 47-43.  That was as close as the Cardinals would get.  The Elks went on a 13-6 run to extend their lead to 60-49 with 1:45 left in the game and finished with the 1o-point victory.

The Cardinals finished shooting 37% from the field, 33% from three-point area, and 76% from the free-throw line.  Heinitz finished with 19 points in the game.  Maddie Schwebach had 16 points and four rebounds.  Sydney Cook added 10 points and nine rebounds.  Clare Klein finished tallied six points and three rebounds.

St Mary (8-10) will travel to Colman to play the Colman-Egan Hawks on Tuesday, February 13th.

Three players finished in double figures for the St Mary Cardinals in a 51-47 win over the Gayville-Volin Raiders on Monday, February 5th.  The Cardinals have won two in a row and five of their last seven games.

St Mary held a slim three-point lead after the first quarter of play at 10-7.  The Cardinals had a 21-19 late in the second quarter, and then closed out the half on a 5-0 run to lead 26-19 at halftime.  The Raiders started the third quarter on their own 5-0 run to pull within two points at 26-24.  The Cardinals bounced back and increased their lead to seven points by the end of the third quarter at 43-36.  The St Mary lead was at 11 points with 3:00 to go in the game at 49-38.  Gayville-Volin closed to within three points at 50-47 with :54 left in the game.  Adyn Heinricy made a free throw with :03.2 left on the clock to increase the Cardinal lead to four points and the win.

Sydney Cook had a double-double for the Cardinals with 16 points and 17 rebounds.  Ella Heinitz had 17 points and three rebounds.  Maddie Schwebach had 10 points and five rebounds in the game.

St Mary (8-9) will host Elkton-Lake Benton on Friday, February 9th.

Adyn Heinricy made a big three point shot to give the St Mary Cardinals a four-point lead, and Maddie Schwebach made four free throws down the stretch to help St Mary to a 60-55 double-overtime win over the Arlington Cardinals on Friday, February 2nd at St Mary High School.

St Mary held a slight two-point lead after the first quarter at 14-12.  Ella Heinitz paced St Mary with eight points in that first quarter.  Neither team was able to get a bigger lead than six points in the first half.  St Mary continued to lead at the end of the second quarter at 25-21.

St Mary pushed their lead to nine points in the third quarter at 34-25, but Arlington went on a run to close the game to a point at 34-33.  St Mary responded with a 4-0 run to close out the third quarter and led 38-33 heading into the fourth quarter.  Arlington did not go away quietly.  Arlington made back-to-back three-point shots, the second coming with 1:25 to go, to tie the game at 43-43.  With the game tied 45-45, St Mary had two attempts to win the game in the final seconds that did not fall.  The defenses held tough in overtime.  The two teams were tied 49-49 when St Mary was called for a shot clock violation, and Arlington missed a shot at the buzzer.  Heinricy and Schwebach helped lead St Mary to victory scoring seven of the 11 points in the extra session for the win.

Two players finished with double-doubles for St Mary.  Schwebach led the way with 23 points and 15 rebounds.  Sydney Cook added 13 points and 17 rebounds.  Heinitz finished with 15 points.  Arlington was led by Marissa Backer with 14 points, Jeryn Christensen had 12 points, and Jayna Haufschild had 10 points.

St Mary (7-9) stopped a two-game skid with the win and will host Gayville-Volin on Monday, February 5th.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

Big spurts in the first and third quarters for the Bridgewater-Emery Huskies led them to a 64-51 win over the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal girls basketball team on Monday, January 29th at Emery.

With the game tied 7-7 early in the first quarter, the Huskies went on their first big run of the game. Bridgewater-Emery closed out the first quarter on a 12-1 for a 19-8 lead after the first quarter of play. The Cardinals cut the lead down to six points about midway through the second quarter, but the Huskies ended the first half leading 32-22. St Mary opened the third quarter on a 14-4 run to pull within two points at 36-34, but once again Bridgewater-Emery closed out a quarter with a spurt. The Huskies closed out the third quarter with a 13-6 run to extend their lead to 47-39. St Mary couldn’t quite find the run needed in the fourth quarter, and the Huskies outscored the Cardinals 17-12 for the win.

Sydney Cook finished the game with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Maddie Schwebach added 14 points, and Ella Heinitz collected 12 points.

St Mary (6-9) will start a three-game home stand when they host the Arlington Cardinals on Friday, February 2nd.