A REMATCH IN THE MAKING

The Lady Raiders traveled to the worlds one and only Corn Palace to take on the Winner Warriors for a birth to the Class A state Tournament which will be held in Brookings. Just like the first game of the year the first quarter was a heavy weight match with both teams trying to find their groove. The score would be knotted up 8-8 after one. Wagner defense once again would prevail as Wagner would out score the Warriors 20-9 in the second and third period. Wagner once again would like to make the game interesting holding a 13 point lead with about 4 minutes left only to find that lead cut to 4 with 1:37 left in the game 32-28. Wagner would then milk nearly :40 seconds off the before they would even have to shoot a free throw. Ashlyn Koupal would knock down 2 with :24 left. Winner would then match with two of their own with :17 left. Ashlyn would again knock down 2 more with :08 seconds left. Winner would hit a desperation three with 1.9 seconds remaining. Wagner would launch the ball to half court and touch it to start the clock and time would expire sending the Raiders on to the State Tournament! Wagner would shoot 14-31 from the floor for 45% while Winner would be stifled by the Raider defense just shooting a miserable 23% going 10-44 from the field. Winner would shoot 11-16 from the line while Wagner would go 6-9. Wagner would commit 24 turnovers compared to Winner’s 8. Wagner once again would control the glass 33-18. Shalayne Nagel would lead Wagner with 13 points, 4 boards, and 3 assists. Ashlyn Koupal would score all 11 of her points in the second half, while grabbing 4 boards, block 2 shots, dish out 2 assists, and have 2 steals. Emma Yost would add 6 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists. Lydia Yost would add 3 points, grab a team high 10 boards off the bench. Macy Koupal would round out the scoring with 3 points, 4 boards, 4 big blocks, and dish out 2 assists. “Wow! What a defensive juggar-knot. Once again and excellent team effort on defense. We controlled the glass once again. Winner did a great job defensively on us not letting us get the ball inside and making it very difficult to even get one on one post touches down low. When we did, they swarmed us. This is what our team has been about all year, different people stepping up for the betterment of the team. The rest just doing their job to their best ability at all the other aspects of the game. We found a way to live another day and now it’s on to the State A tournament! Thank you to all those who attended the game. It felt like a home game with all the support that was there. We hope to see many of you next weekend cheering us on!”