Boys and Girls Basketball sees variety of success early in the season
by Raegen Altman, GHS Blue Ink
As basketball season begins, there is always the big day everyone looks forward to: the Chester vs. Garretson doubleheader.
This year, the doubleheader was held at the Garretson High School on Saturday, December 10, 2022. Starting the day off at 9AM, the junior high boys basketball team came out with a 48-11 win over the Chester Flyers, and the 8th grade boys stepped up following the first game and beat the Flyers with a score that looked similar to the game before.
At approximately 11 AM, the JV girls got their first win of the season against the Flyers. The day started out strong, but unfortunately the JV boys were defeated by the Flyers in their first game of the season.
The defeat of the JV boys put no pressure on the Lady Dragons varsity (3-0), as they kept their perfect record, dominating the Flyers, 58-29.
Point guard Jordyn Williams, was going into the season thinking that her team had potential to do well. When being asked what she and her team need to do to keep their perfect record going throughout the season she stated, “I think that we as a team really support each other and that we share the ball really well and if we keep doing that, we could have a really good season.”
The Lady Dragons shared the ball really well, as Sydney Olson and Kylie Christensen were the leading scorers with 12 points apiece, followed by two other Blue Dragons in double digits.
With the Lady Blue Dragons playing a great game, the enthusiasm in the gym was outstanding, and the boys started off strong. Although the first quarter was very low scoring, the Dragons’ had a 7-4 lead.
Throughout the game, the lead changed back and forth, but the Chester Flyers took the game by two, defeating the Dragons, 38-36.
Sam Schleuter and Brecken Weir, two varsity players for the dragons, both agreed that the game went pretty well, they just needed a few more shots to drop. Schleuter, team statistical leader, said, “Our strengths were definitely defense and communication, but our weakness was not finishing the easy shots.”
The Blue Dragons shot 20% (2/10) from the left block, giving proof of Schleuter and Weir’s statement from before. “I think our team just needs to work on making the little bunnies and layups and that will help us come out on top,” stated Schleuter.
The Blue Dragons played on Monday, December 19 in West Central, and despite keeping it a close game at halftime, the Trojans pulled away to end the game 36-61. The Dragons played with a short bench, and although the Blue Dragons are a young team, the boys continue to find ways to step up when they need to, as first year starter, sophomore Ian Buettner ended the game with 14 points and 7 rebounds.
The Lady Dragons played Saturday, December 17, playing Arlington in the Entringer Classic. After a hard fought game, the Lady Dragons came out on top 60-55.
The Lady Dragons played their last game before Christmas break last night, December 20, and beat the Quarriers of Dell Rapids 60-45 to keep a perfect record, 5-0.
EDITOR'S NOTE: In this week's printed edition, the Gazette ran the updated version of last week's basketball article that can be found here. With school letting out on Wednesday for winter break, the Blue Ink was released early, allowing for us to release this well-done Blue Ink article with updated information from the Entringer Classic last Saturday and last night's game for those who already read the 12-15-22 updated version.
