RAPID CITY - Three West River Class A schools are heading to this weekend's state girls' basketball tournament in Watertown with grand goals in mind. Unfortunately Red Cloud, Winner and Stanley County are all going to have to beat a higher seed in their first-round game to get to the semifinals.
No matter what, there will be a new state champion as Vermillion is not back to defend their 2007 title.
Games start at noon CST at the Watertown Civic Arena with top-seeded Dell Rapids (22-1 overall) taking on Sisseton (15-6). Beresford (19-4) and Winner (19-4) then play at 1:45 p.m. in the No. 4 vs. No. 5 game. Red Cloud (17-6) is the tourney's No. 7 seed and will take on West Central (20-3) at 7 p.m. CST. The Lady Crusaders are at their second-straight state tournament and look to improve on first year's eighth-place finish. Head coach Jerome LeBeaux is in his first season at the helm for Red Cloud and doesn't think the seeding matters much.
"If we get hot it doesn't matter if it's No. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1," he said of the seeds. "If we shoot like we're capable of shooting, I think we can play with anyone."
The Crusaders enter the tournament behind leading scorer and do-everything guard-forward Marque Lunderman, but anybody that thinks Red Cloud is a one-person team is in for a surprise. Shaina Clifford, Desirae Blacksmith, Ida Clarke, Kristy Boltz and Lisa Bear Robe are all more than capable of knocking down shots when presented the opportunity and Red Cloud's overall 3-point shooting ability gives them the ability to put points on the board in a hurry.
The Crusaders made their first state tournament appearance in six years last season under the guidance of then coach Ted Standing Soldier, Jr. Standing Soldier left Red Cloud after last season to become the head girls' coach at his alma mater, Little Wound.
"I told the girls that this is a great accomplishment, making it to state," LeBeaux said. "But we've still got three games to play. They made it to state last year. I'm hoping that they want to do a little more than that this year and I'm hoping I can help them go a little farther."
The state tournament appearance is the first for LeBeaux, who won a state title in 1995 at Red Cloud as a player under the guidance of his coach and father, Lyle "Dusty" LeBeaux.
The Winner Warriors are playing in their first state tournament since 1997 and come into the tournament with a ton of momentum after holding No. 6-ranked Bennett County, last year's state A runner-up, to 18 points in their Region 7A title game.
"If we can play defense and rebound like we did against Bennett County, we feel like we can compete with anybody," Winner head coach Derris Buus said.
The Warriors are led by the trio of Sammie Parvin, Jordan Harter and Megan Phillips, who all average double-figures scoring.
"We're a balanced team and that's been the way we've been all year," Buus said. "And we've got Kasey Novotny that is right there almost averaging double figures, too. We like to move the ball around and take advantage of what the defense gives us. Hopefully we can do some of that this tournament."
Winner will have to turn much of its defensive attention to Beresford guard Cori Bonte. The Watchdogs have won five straight games after losing to Elk Point-Jefferson late in the season.
Stanley County comes into its first state tournament appearance since 2001 with one of the state's most explosive players in junior Sam Ostarello, a double-double machine that has already verbally committed to play basketball at Purdue. The 6-foot-2 forward has had multiple 20-point and 20-rebound games already this season. The Lady Buffaloes (19-4) take on the third-seeded Sioux Valley Cossacks (20-3) in the nightcap at 8:45 p.m.
The tourney Goliath has to be Dell Rapids. The Lady Quarriers haven't lost to a South Dakota team all season, as their only loss of the year came at the hands of Pipestone, Minn., 47-45.
"Dell Rapids has to be the favorite," Buus said. "They've been No. 1 most of the year and they only lost to Pipestone. I think that makes them the favorite."
The Quarriers have plenty to be hungry about after they blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead in last year's semifinal loss to Bennett County. The frontcourt tandem of senior Whitney Lickteig and junior Meghan Paul will be a tall mountain for any team in the field to climb.
