Thursday, 3.28.13 ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net sports PRESS DAKOTAN SPORTS DEPARTMENT: [email protected] 7 USD Ready For WBI Semifinal Showdown With McNeese State BY JEREMY HOECK Seekamp, a sophomore from Aus- come a long way. SDSU in the Summit League final, the has scored 61 points over two WBI [email protected] tralia, was a redshirt last year when USD “Being a Cinderella team right now is Coyotes have scored wins of 17, 4, 11, games. advanced to the second round of the a lot of fun.” 20, 10, 8 and 23 points in the recent 8- McNeese also has a third Baggett on VERMILLION — Amy Williams was WNIT — ultimately losing at home to Despite having 10 players available game stretch. It took some time for the the roster, in freshman Allison Baggett wrapping up her team’s quarterfinal run Colorado. because of pre-season injuries, the Coy- team to click, but clearly things are dif- who averages 6.2 points per game. through the NAIA Tournament. Nicole “I just can’t believe last year I was sit- otes rolled to a third-place finish in the ferent now, Seekamp said. “We’ll have to guard that three-point Seekamp was in street clothes on the ting out and now I’m out there,” said Summit League regular season. They “We’ve been beating teams by 20- line,” Williams said. “It’ll take a very spe- bench watching her Coyotes compete in Seekamp, who has turned a corner of then advanced all the way to the confer- some points, and we have to stop and cial defensive effort from us.” another tournament. late and has scored 27, 20, 33 and 13 ence championship game before losing think, ‘How did we do that?’ she said. Asked about McNeese State, Wilson That was a year ago. points over her last four games. by three points to South Dakota State. “It’s like we expected it to be a closer compared the Cowboys and their ath- Now, they’re joined together as coach “It’s gone really quickly. It’d be great Seeded No. 6 in the WBI, the Coyotes game and it wasn’t.” leticism to the styles of IUPUI and Lamar and player for the University of South to get a championship win, even if it’s then picked up road wins at higher- While USD has made a playoff push — teams the Coyotes went 4-0 against Dakota women’s basketball team, which the WBI.” seeded Utah State and Lamar (Texas). after nearly reaching the NCAA Tourna- this season. hosts McNeese State tonight (Thursday) There was a time early in the season, Tonight’s winner will travel to either De- ment, it’s opponent tonight has done the “I feel like we can do some of the at 7 p.m. in the Women’s Basketball Invi- though, when any kind of playoff run troit or Pennsylvania for the champi- same. things we did against those teams, if we tational (WBI) semifinals at the Dakota- seemed unlikely. onship, set for Saturday or Sunday. McNeese State (20-14), based in Lake keep sticking with our game plan,” she Dome. Playing for a new coach and in a new The main goal all along, Williams Charles, La., lost to Oral Roberts in the said. “It’s been a whirlwind,” Williams said faster-paced system, the Coyotes said, was to be consistent by this point Southland Conference title game after Though its game plan wasn’t to lose before a team practice this week. “I feel started 2-5, having scored 46, 50, 49, 54 in the season — not unfamiliar to her advancing to the NCAA Tournament to SDSU and fall to the third tier of post- like most of the year I’ve been dog-pad- and 45 points in those losses. Following from her stint at NAIA Rogers State each of the past two years. season tournaments, USD is anxious to dling, trying to keep my head above a rout of NAIA Peru State, USD dropped (Okla.). The Cowboys are led by twin sisters have its season continue, Wilson said. water. But here we are.” consecutive games on the road before “To be honest, traditionally, the Ashlyn Baggett (Sr., G, 18.8 ppg) and “I knew we had a chance at maybe Winners in seven of their last eight Christmas by a combined three points. teams that I’ve coached in my past have Caitlyn Baggett (Sr., G, 15.4 ppg). Ashlyn the WNIT or this one, but we were really games, the Coyotes (19-15) are two wins “We had a lot of ups and downs, and been very similar,” she said. “Not neces- is a prolific three-point shooter, with 100 excited to just keep playing,” she said. shy of making their third straight Divi- there were some games we shouldn’t sarily starting off strong, but playing our made treys on the season — she has “That was a heart-breaker losing to sion I post-season appearance a rather have lost,” senior Tempestt Wilson said. best ball at the end of the season.” also reached double figures in all but memorable one. “We’ve dealt with a lot of adversity and Following suit, other than the loss to two games. For good measure, Caitlyn COYOTES | PAGE 8

Basketball | S.D. Class A Girls’ All-State Team First Team Boasts Well-Rounded Game BY JAMES D. CIMBUREK [email protected]

Major basketball awards are Crofton’s Arens often reserved for the pure scor- ers, the ones that fill up a box Sisters, Wynot’s score. But the five players in the 2013 South Dakota Class A All- State Girls’ Basketball team fill up Schulte Earn All- the entire stat sheet. Clark-Willow Lake’s Chynna State Honors Stevens, Sioux Falls Christian’s Hayley McCarron, Tri-Valley’s Alli- LINCOLN, Neb. — Two players son Cross, Parkston’s Erica Her- from Class C2 champion Crofton rold and Beresford’s Alyson and one from Class D2 champion Johnsen — all seniors — com- Wynot were named to the Ne- prise this year’s elite list, as se- braska AP All-State Girls’ Basket- lected by the South Dakota ball first team, announced on Basketball Coaches Association Wednesday. and the South Dakota Sportswrit- Senior Bridget Arens and soph- ers Association. omore Allison Arens were both Stevens is the only holdover first-team selections for Crofton. from the 2012 first team. Cross Maggie Schulte was a first-team was a second-team selection last selection for Wynot. year. Several area players also re- Three of the five average bet- ceived honorable mention recog- ter than 19 points a game, and all nition. average better than 13 points a CLASS C1 — Ponca: Megan contest. But this year’s first team Pollard has more going for them than CLASS C2 — Crofton: Quinn scoring. Wragge, Tiffany Tramp; Harting- Four of the five average 7.5 re- ton Cedar Catholic: Katelyn bounds per game and have over Dickes, Karly Noecker; Laurel- 50 steals on the season. Four of Concord/Coleridge: Audra Corbit, the five also average a blocked Cameron Eddie; Niobrara/Verdi- shot or more per game. Three of gre: Tessa Ives the five average better than one CLASS D1 — Allen: Lindsay made three-pointer per game, and Jones; Bloomfield: Autumn Luger; have free throw percentages of 75 Hartington: Myranda Fischer; percent or better. Randolph: Kirsten Fink, Michaela Stevens, a South Dakota State Strathman recruit, averaged 19.8 points, 10 CLASS D2 — Wynot: Ashley rebounds and 2.6 assists per con- Heine, Kelsie Higgins, Samantha P&D FILE PHOTOS Wieseler test, and finished the season with Beresford’s Alyson Johnsen (left photo, 3) and Parkston’s Erica Herrold (right photo, 12) were both named to the South Dakota Class A Girls’ Basket- 56 steals and 30 blocked shots. ball All-State Team, announced today (Thursday) by the South Dakota Basketball Coaches Association and the South Dakota Sportswriters Associa- “She’s a gym rat,” said CWL tion. Johnsen will play basketball at the University of Sioux Falls, while Herrold will play at Dakota Wesleyan. Also selected to the first team were Mount head coach Wade Stobbs. “She’s Marty College volleyball recruit Allison Cross of Tri-Valley, SDSU recruit Chynna Stevens of Clark-Willow Lake and Augustana recruit Hayley McCar- constantly in the gym or asking ron of Sioux Falls Christian. Augie Falls In for the keys.” A threat both inside and out, the 6-0 Stevens made 31 three- D2 Semifinals pointers and shot 42 percent from SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Augus- the field overall. S.D. Basketball Academic All-State Honors Announced tana College saw its quest for a na- “Her ability to post up and WATERTOWN — The South AVON: Emily Mudder SCOTLAND: Kennidy Asche, Zeller, Sam Vrereck, Hannah tional championship fall one game score with her back to the basket, short of the final, as Dowling (N.Y.) Dakota Basketball Coaches Asso- BERESFORD: Taryn Twite, Sam Geiman Klinkhammer downed the Vikings 76-54 in the then score outside, opens up so ciation has released its Academic Ashley Ostrem, Sophie Doeden, TRIPP-DELMONT-ARMOUR: FREEMAN: Shaun Becker, Jor- many things for the other girls,” semifinals of the NCAA Division II All-State list for boys’ and girls’ Hayley Hansen, Alyson Johnsen LaNae Fuerst, Elizabeth Bitter- dan Rinehart, Arron Lickteig, women’s basketball Elite 8 on Stobbs said. basketball. BON HOMME: Karlee Kozak man Caleb Lang Stevens wrestled the Clark ca- Wednesday. To be honored, a student-ath- DAKOTA VALLEY: Nicole Ras- VERMILLION: Mackenzie PARKER: Blake Reynolds, Jake Connie Simmons posted 24 reer marks for points (1,583) and lete, manager or statistician must mussen Huber, Courtney Johnson, Vollmer rebounds (965) away from an- points and six assists to lead Dowl- have a 3.5 or better cumulative ELK POINT-JEFFERSON: Au- Brooke Schwasinger, Allison PARKSTON: Andrew Schnabel, ing (30-3), which will play either other player who made her mark grade-point average and have drey Truhe, Haylee Erickson, Heine, Blair Gilkyson Parker VanZee, Kyle Hohn, Devin Western Washington or Ashland for at SDSU, Shannon Schlagel (1,518 participated in the sport for at Anna Chicoine VIBORG-HURLEY: Danielle Kurtz, Rebecca Herman the championship on Friday. points, 903 rebounds). Stevens least three seasons. FREEMAN: Carli Lager, Brian Voss PLATTE-GEDDES: Matthew Danielle Wilson had 18 points, 10 also set school marks for blocked Here is the list of area hon- Schamber Randall, Drew Turnis rebounds and six blocked shots. shots (122) and career free throw orees: MARION: Katherine Luke SCOTLAND: Garrett Kotalik Nicole Caggiano netted 13 points. percentage (73 percent). Boys MENNO: Ashton Diede, Court- YANKTON: Andrew Hummel, VERMILLION: Austin Krier, Christine Verrelle added 10 re- Stobbs is looking forward to Girls ney Schaeffer, Allie Zanter Tanner Andersen, Tanner Settles bounds in teh victory. being able to follow Stevens’ ca- Michael Rucker, Sam Wendte Dowling shot 57.1 percent from YANKTON: Jessica Wirth, PARKER: Micalanne Hanten, AVON: Taylor Mudder VIBORG-HURLEY: Andrew reer at SDSU. Tessa Weeldreyer Hora, Trevor Jacobsen, Clay Jor- the field (28-49), including a blister- “It’s a great place to go and Mikala Hora, Kelsey Fitzgerald, BON HOMME: Les Jelsma, ing 8-13 (61.5 percent) from three- Kelsey Butler, Abby Mitchell, PLATTE-GEDDES: Kelly Knud- Alec Weber gensen, Tyler Novak son, Shelby Rabenberg, Macken- WAGNER: William Hollmann, point range. Dowling averaged 4.3 Whitney Specht ELK POINT-JEFFERSON: Brock three-point field goals made per CLASS A | PAGE 8 zie Millar Spencer Peters game coming into the national semifinal and shot 27.7 percent from behind the arc. Faith Tinklenberg scored 21 Nebraska Women Relish Improbable Run To Sweet 16 points, tying a career high, and had four steals for Augustana, which BY ERIC OLSON since mid-January, suddenly are the team Huskers will have seen since they played with the pressure, but everybody was out was held to 26.9 percent (18-67) from the field. Cami Koehn hit three AP Sports Writer no one wants to play. against Baylor’s Brittney Griner during to get us every single night.” three-pointers for nine points. Alex “It’s been more of a ride this year, and I their Big 12 days. The Blue Devils also Kelley and her teammates rolled to Feeney added seven rebounds for LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Dominique Kel- totally think it was unexpected,” said star play a pressure defense conducive to forc- wins over Northern Iowa and UCLA to the Vikings, who were outre- ley tweeted after Nebraska’s upset at point guard Lindsey Moore, one of two ing turnovers. reach the regional semifinals, and no one bounded 47-29. Texas A&M that she couldn’t decide holdovers from 2010. “My freshman year, But Nebraska is on a roll and believes it batted an eye. The Huskers, after all, were Both teams opened the game at whether it was more fun to reach the after we got on that streak, everybody can play with anybody, especially after a No. 1 seed. a blistering pace with the Vikings NCAA tournament’s round of 16 as a kind of expected it. We had high expecta- Monday’s 74-63 win over Texas A&M on Nebraska advanced no further. Ken- scoring in the first five seconds of player in 2010 or as a graduate assistant tions for ourselves this season. I don’t the Aggies’ home court. tucky capitalized on Nebraska’s poor the game off the opening tip. But coach in 2013. necessarily think everybody else did.” “I think we can do it,” Moore said. “I’m shooting in the second half to beat the despite the slow pace Dowling is By Wednesday, after thinking it over a Next up for the sixth-seeded Huskers confident in the way we’re playing right Huskers 76-67 and end a season that, ac- accustomed to playing, the Golden couple days, she had it figured out. Yeah, (25-8) is Sunday’s game against No. 2 seed now and I think we’re playing our best cording to Yori, easily could have ex- Lions continued to shoot at a high this season’s journey has been a bigger Duke (32-2) in the Norfolk Regional. basketball. And it’s the most important tended to the Final Four. percentage. thrill. The Blue Devils swept the Atlantic time to play your best basketball.” “There’s always a certain degree of Augustana drew within six late The 2010 team was loaded with talent Coast Conference regular-season and tour- Kelley said Yori, the Big Ten coach of pressure in sport,” Yori said. “But during in the first half but a run by Dowl- and won its first 30 games. It would have nament championships. They made it to the year, has done a masterful job with our 30-game winning streak, we did see ing, including a three with four sec- been a surprise if that team hadn’t the regional semifinals by rallying from 15 this season’s team. virtually every opponent’s best shot. onds left gave them a 12-point lead reached the Sweet 16. points down in the second half to beat That’s not to say she didn’t in 2010, There was also an increase in the requests entering intermission, 39-27. This season, the Huskers started out Oklahoma State 68-59 on Tuesday. Kelley said. But that team had All-Ameri- for our players’ time. Perhaps we did get The second half wasn’t any with barely enough healthy players to “Duke is one of the most talented can Kelsey Griffin and three other players worn down a bit.” more fruitful for the Vikings who conduct meaningful practices. The team teams in the nation,” Yori said. “They have who had at least three years of starting ex- That won’t be the case this season, were reeling from a 29 percent shooting performance in the first was so inexperienced and lacking in depth a roster filled from top to bottom with col- perience. Moore said. half. And within the first six min- that coach Connie Yori junked her free- lege All-Americans, All-ACC players, high Pressure built on that team as the wins “I don’t think anyone is ready for our utes of the second half, the Dowling wheeling motion offense and replaced it school All-Americans and USA national piled up, and Kelley noted that Nebraska season to be over,” she said. “Nobody’s lead had reached 20 points, 52-32. with the more structured Princeton sys- program players. It seems like they are in was thrust out of its usual underdog role. burned out. Everybody wants to keep The Vikings trimmed it to 15 tem. After losing three of five to start Big the national-championship discussion “We got a feel for what it was like to be playing and keep winning. We know this points off a Feeney layup, her first Ten play, she scrapped her favored full- every year, and there are some really good on the other end of that spectrum, to be team is special, and we want to prove to points of the game. Caggiano re- court man-to-man defense, swallowed reasons for that.” the Connecticuts, the Dukes, the Baylors. everyone why it’s so special.” hard and played zone. Duke’s 6-foot-3 Elizabeth Williams We had this target on our back,” Kelley The Huskers, winners of 13 of 15 games might be the most intimidating center the said. “I don’t think we were overwhelmed HOOPS | PAGE 8