After a long break, the GHS Girls Varsity Basketball team hit the road to take on Flandreau, Colman-Egan, and Sergeant Bluff-Luton last week.
The two-week breather before made for a rough start, as they fell to Flandreau last Tuesday, January 10 with a score of 29-44 in their first loss of the season.
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The two teams, who as of press time were #2 and #3 in their seed standings for their regions this season, stayed evenly matched throughout the game. Throughout the first and second quarter, the Dragons would inch ahead, just to be caught by the Fliers. Unfortunately, the Fliers caught the advantage in the third quarter and wouldn't let go.
Overall, the Lady Dragons had 23 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals, and 1 block for the game.
Undeterred, the team traveled to Colman on Friday to face the Hawks. They hit the court with renewed passion, scoring the first two points of the game. With that down, the team never looked back, ending the game in the 4th quarter with a score of 55 points to the Hawks' 43 points.
The Dragons were on fire that night, acquiring 17 steals, 10 assists, 26 rebounds, and 3 blocks overall.
The team didn't get much of a break as they headed to Madison the next day to take on Sergeant Bluff-Luton (SBL) in the Dakota State Classic. Sixteen teams from four states (South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska) competed against each other in the yearly shootout.
The game did not go as planned for the Dragons, as the Warriors got the jump on the Garretson team towards the end of the first quarter. Once the opposing team had the lead, they kept it, ending the game with 58 points to Garretson's 49 points.
The Dragons did not make it easy for them, however, going into the half at 25-29. The Warriors stretched their lead to 9 at the end of the third, but Garretson whittled that back down through the first half of the 4th quarter. Unfortunately, a foul called on the Dragons allowed the Warriors to get a jump on the team, and they widened the gap back out to 15 points before Garretson got back on the offensive. Despite battling back to a 7-point stretch of 49-56 with 12 seconds left on the clock, the Dragons were unable to close that gap and saw a final score of 49-58.
Overall, the team had 27 rebounds, 11 steals, 5 assists, and one block throughout the game. Raegen Altman was high scorer with 11 points, with Jordyn Williams and Tayler Benson each acquiring 9.
The Dragons headed to Sioux Falls on Tuesday, January 17 to take on Sioux Falls Christian (results not available at press time), and will be on the home court tomorrow (Friday), January 20 in a double header with Vermillion. The game is slated to begin at 6:15 p.m.
UPDATE 1/19/22: The printed version labeled Sydney Olson incorrectly. This has been changed.
