Titan girls fall to Jefferson, Aberdeen Central; defeat Watertown

Anna Binde takes the three pointer during the match-up against Watertown.

On Thursday, Jan. 15 the Tea Area High School girls’ basketball team took on Sioux Falls Jefferson and despite leading 26-23 at the half, the Titans suffered the 54-44 loss. The Titans led by six in the third but Jefferson outscored Tea Area 19-9 to put the game away, getting ten second chance scores. 

For the Titans, Ellie Clayberg led the way with 11 points in the game. She hit three of five from downtown She also had three rebounds and one assist. Emma Lingren finished the game with nine points, four steals, and one rebound. Jayna VanLaecken scored eight points, grabbed seven rebounds, had one assist and three steals. Finishing with five points in the game was Jaycie Babb. Babb also grabbed three rebounds, and had two assists. Anna Binde scored four points, grabbed three rebounds and had one assists. Both Tatum Slykuis and Grace Bialas finished with three points in the game. Bialas also had two assists and three rebounds. 

The Titans shot just over 30 percent against Jefferson who shot over 42 percent in the game. 

Tea Area hosted Aberdeen Central on Saturday, Jan. 17 and after leading by nine in the opening quarter, Tea Area saw their lead vanish as Aberdeen Central outscored them 25-17 in the second and 17-8 in the fourth. 

The Titans had one player in double figures as VanLaecken scored 15 points on the night, hitting three three pointers in the game. She also grabbed six rebounds, had two assists and one steal. Paige Sabers finished with three three-pointers as well to score nine points. She grabbed three rebounds and one assist. Piper Benning finished with eight points and four rebounds. Clayberg scored six points and had three assists and one steal. Both Binde and Lingren scored four points for the Titans. Binde also had three rebounds and two assists while Lingren had two rebounds and one steal. Bialas also had four points, grabbed three rebounds, had three assists and two steals in the game. Babb finished the night with five points, three assist sand two steals. 

On Tuesday, Jan. 20 the Titans hosted Watertown and got the decisive 55-29 victory. The Titans hit nine three pointers in the game led by Binde’s four and VanLaecken’s three. Binde led all scorers with 20 in the game. VanLaecken had 12 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Lingren finished with eight points, five rebounds and three steals. Babb had four points, five rebounds, a team-high seven assists and one steal. Sabers had three points and Piper Benning, Talli Peschong, Daphne Decker and Clayberg had two each. Tea Area controlled the entire game with Watertown never leading. Tea Area will take on Mitchell on Jan. 22 and host Roosevelt on Jan. 29.