Trio of Watertown High School girls basketball players lead list of top performers for week of Dec. 13-18
It was another busy week for high school athletes in northeastern South Dakota and that meant for another big list of top performances.
Here is the Public Opinion’s list of top performers for the week of Dec. 13-18.
Top honors a couple of players from Watertown High School’s girls basketball team, which improved to 3-0 with home victories over Mitchell and Huron.
Leading the way for the Arrows were:
• Jaida Young — Young scored 13 points in a 33-29 win over Mitchell and then added 17 points, eight rebound, three steals and the game-winning shot at the buzzer in the tam’s 51-49 comeback win over Huron.
• Maddy Rohde — Rohde scored eight points in the low-scoring battle against Mitchell and added 16 more in the win over Huron.
• Jade Lund — Lund sank two 3-pointers in the final minutes, including one that tied the game with 30 seconds left and set the stage for Young's game-winning shot against Mitchell.
Other top performers, by sport, include: (Note: In most cases, we’ve focused on athletes who had multiple good efforts):
Girls Basketball
• Jada Burke, De Smet — The Bulldogs improved to 4-0 with wins over Madison, Estelline-Hendricks and Wolsey-Wessington. Burke had 41 points in the three wins and also had nine rebounds in one win and eight in another.
• Kennadi Buchholz, De Smet — Buchholz has recorded a double-double in every game this season. Last week, she combined for 51 points and 51 rebounds in the three wins. She also made seven steals in one game.
• Kami Wadsworth, Hamlin — Wadsworth scored 62 points in three games for the second-rated Class A Chargers, who notched two wins after opening with a close loss to Flandreau.
• Josie Andersen, Deuel — Andersen scored 17 points in a win over Webster Area and added 16 points and eight rebounds in a win over Chester Area in the Entringer Classic.
• Addalyn Steffensen, Arlington — Steffensen scored 20 points in the Cardinals’ Entringer Classic win over Estelline-Hendricks and also notched 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals in a win over Castlewood.
• Maddie Horn, Castlewood — The Warriors went 2-1 last week and Horn scored 58 points in the three games. She also had two 10-rebound games.
• Alexia Quinn, Tiospa Zina — The Wambi lost four games in the 44th Lakota Nation Invitational, but Quinn still tallied 55 points.
Boys Basketball
• Drew Norberg, Watertown — The Arrows suffered road losses at Mitchell and Huron, but Norberg produced 48 points and 19 rebounds.
• Kalen Garry, De Smet — What didn’t Garry do last week? He opened his week by hitting the game-tying and game-winning 3-pointers in the final eight seconds of a 60-57 win over Clark-Willow Lake; added 20 points in a big win over Estelline-Hendricks and then went off for 35 points in a 61-57 loss to nationally-ranked Dream City Christian (Ariz.) in the Sanford Pentagon.
• Damon Wilkinson, De Smet — Wilkinson couldn’t match Garry, but still had 28 points and 28 rebounds in the three games.
• Tyson Stevenson, Hamlin — The Chargers split their first two games of the season and Stevenson had 13 points in a win over Flandreau and 19 in a loss to Groton Area.
• Mehki Keller, Florence-Henry — Keller collected 14 points in a win over Waverly-South Shore and 13 points and 11 rebounds in a loss to Faulkton Area.
• Jesse Keough, Langford Area — Keough scored 20 points in a loss to Estelline-Hendricks and 25 points (also grabbing eight rebounds) in a win over Hitchcock-Tulare.
• Braxton Saathoff, Estelline-Hendricks — Saathoff’s 28 points and 12 rebounds led the Redhawks past Langford Area. He also had eight points and six rebounds in the loss to De Smet.
• Carson Kirwan, Castlewood — Kirwan scored 16 points in a loss to Elkton-Lake Benton and then went for 25 points and nine rebounds in a win over Arlington.
• Jaydon Keller, Webster Area — Keller’s week included 23 points and 12 rebounds in a loss to Deuel and 19 and nine in a loss to Ipswich.
• Juron Adams, Tiospa Zina — The Wambdi split four games in the 44th Lakota Nation Invitational and Adams led the way with 93 points, including 37 in a loss to Little Wound.
Wrestling
• Sloan Johannsen, Watertown — The Arrows’ 113-pounder ran his record to 14-0 last week, getting a forfeit win in a home dual victory over Brookings. He added three more wins to win his division and lead Watertown to the team title in the Warrior Invite.
• Connor Hanson, Watertown — Hanson also got a forfeit win against Brookings and went 3-0 on the way to claiming the 126-pound title in the Warrior Invite.
• Carson Hansmann, Watertown — Hansmann notched an 11-1 win in the dual against Brookings and won the 138-pound title in the Warrior Invite with two more wins.
• Ben Althoff, Watertown — Althoff added four more wins last week and won the 170-pound title in the Warrior Invite.
• Mac Young, Watertown — Young notched a fall against Brookings and won two more matches on the way to taking the 182-pound title in the Warrior Invite.
• Holden Hawkins, Sisseton — Seven area wrestlers won individual titles in the Northeast Conference tournament. Holden is being honored because he improved to 9-0 on the season with two wins and the 113-pound championship.
• Bryce Hawkinson, Britton-Hecla — It’s a similar deal for Hawkinson, who went 3-0 and won the 126-pound title in the NEC tournament. He is 11-0 on the season.
• Dylan Zell, Kingsbury County — The Knights had a number of champions and cruised to the title in the Cossack Avalanche tournament. Zell led the way with four pins and the 138-pound title.
• Cael Larson, Webster Area — Larson didn’t wrestle in the NEC tournament, but went 5-0 and took the 145-pound championship in the Mount Vernon-Plankinton/Corsica-Stickney Titan Invitational. Larson improved to 13-0 on the season.
• Lucas Kannegieter, Clark-Willow Lake — The 182-pounder helped the Cyclones go 2-1 in a quadrangular at Salem with three wins. He then added a runner-up finish at 182 in the NEC tournament.
• Justin Granum, Deuel — Granum finished second at 195 pounds in the NEC tournament and then went 3-0 with three falls on the way to winning his division in the Cossack Avalanche tournament.
Hockey
• Jaclyn Lloyd, Watertown Laker Girls — Lloyd sparked the Lakers to SDAHA wins over Huron and Sioux Center (Iowa) by tallying five goals and three assists.
• Janel Lloyd, Watertown Laker Girls — Younger sister Janel contributed in both wins, producing three goals and three assists.
• Emma Foisel, Watertown Laker Girls — A consistent goalie is a good thing. Foisel had 23 saves in each of the two wins.
• Austin Green, Watertown Laker Boys — The Laker boys split two SDAHA games, losing to Aberdeen and beating Huron. Green had two goals in both games and also added an assist against Huron.
• Mason Witt, Watertown Laker Boys — Witt recorded a goal and three assists in the win over Huron.
• Blair Boomsma, Watertown Laker Boys — Boomsma scored goals in each game and also had an assist in the loss to Aberdeen.
Gymnastics
• Myah Morris, Watertown — Morris is leading the way for the Arrow gymnasts and did it again in the Jill McCormick Invite, winning the vault (9.8), floor exercise (9.75) and all-around titles (38.18). She also finished second in the uneven bars and eighth in the balance beam.
• Hope Bjerke, Deuel — Bjerke won the uneven bars (8.3) and all-around titles in the Britton-Hecla Invitational and also was third in the all-around at the Milbank Invite with a score of 32.6.
• Laycee Anderson, Deuel — Anderson won the vault (9.1) in the Britton-Hecla Invite and was fourth in the all-around competition in the Milbank Invite (32.2).
• Dani Yamaura, Milbank Area — Yamaura helped Milbank Area win the team title at Britton by taking the balance beam (9.1) and floor exercise (9.35) and adding a second-place finish in the all-around (34.65). She also shined in the Milbank Invite, winning the beam (8.55) and floor (9.0) and finishing second in the all-around at 33.25.
• Aubrey Fraasch, Milbank Area — Fraasch won the all-around competition in the Milbank Invite with a score of 33.55.
• Sterling Mertens, Britton-Hecla — Mertens won the uneven bars (8.3) in the Milbank Invitational.
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Trio of Watertown High School girls basketball players lead list of top performers for week of Dec. 13-18
