History in the making - Titan girls reach State for first time in school history
“The State Tournament for this team has been a long time coming. This was our fourth SoDak16 appearance in the last five years and for us to finally get over that hump, with this group of girls is just an awesome experience.”
—- Adam Schorzmann, Titan head coach
After a sluggish first quarter, the Tea Area High School girls’ basketball team took control of the SoDak 16 match-up against Mobridge Pollock on Thursday, Feb. 29 to earn their first ever trip to the State Tournament.
“It was a great feeling finally getting into the State Tournament, especially since it’s Tea Area’s last year in Class A,” said Titan head coach Adam Schorzmann. “I thought, after our first quarter tightness wore off, we were able to settle in and had a great second quarter defensively that led to us getting some offense. I thought all night our defense was very good and that’s something we can hang onto when our offense isn’t scoring much.”
The Titans outscored Mobridge-Pollock 20-4 in the second and used a 22-11 fourth quarter advantage to seal the 62-37 victory and punch their ticket to the State A Tournament.
“The State Tournament for this team has been a long time coming. This was our fourth SoDak16 appearance in the last five years and for us to finally get over that hump, with this group of girls is just an awesome experience…These girls definitely have earned it” said Schorzmann.
In the SoDak 16 match-up at Huron, the Titan girls had four athletes in double figures with Mara Grant scoring 22 points, Katie Vasecka 18, and both Haidyn West and Ellie Clayberg finishing the night with ten points. Jaycee Babb also provided two points for the Titans.
Leading the team in rebounds was Vasecka who earned a double-double, pulling down 15 boards to go with her 18 points, Grant grabbed nine rebounds in the game. Leading
the team in assists was West who had four in the game. Grant and Vasecka both led in steals with two apiece.
The Titans shot over 43 percent in the game while Mobridge-Pollock shot just 30 percent from the field.
With the win the Titans enter the State Tournament as the sixth seed with a 19-4 record on the season. They will face off against an undefeated Flandreau team (23-0) who is seeded third coming into the State A Tournament on Thursday, March 7 in the opening round at the Dacotah Bank Center in Brookings. Tip-off is set for 7:45 p.m.
“We look forward to a competitive State Tournament. Flandreau is going to be tough and they’re a great team with a lot of strengths but I think our schedule has prepared us for games like this,” said Schorzmann. “We’ve battled, competed and even beat some of the state’s best teams this year and I think we can rely on that experience going into Thursday’s game.”
If the Titans win, they will play again on Friday, March 8 at 7:45 p.m. against the winner of the Sioux Falls Christian/Hanson match-up played Thursday at 6 p.m. The State A Championship title game will be played on Saturday, March 9 at 7:45 p.m.
Should the Titans lose the match-up, they would move to the consolation bracket and play the loser of the Sioux Falls Christian/Hanson match-up on Friday, March 8 at 1:45 p.m. The Consolation Championship game will be played on Saturday, March 9 at 1:45 p.m. The third/fourth place game will be played Saturday, March 9 at 6 p.m. and the seventh/eighth place game will be played Saturday, March 9 at 12 p.m. Other teams competing at State include top seeded Sisseton (21-1), eighth seeded Mount Vernon/Plankinton (18-5), fourth seeded Vermillion (19-4), and fifth seeded Mahpíya Lúta (22-0). Sioux Falls Christian is the second seed with a 20-2 record and Hanson is the seventh seed with a 17-5 record.
For more information see page 10.