Santana White Dress (32) and two teammates are listening to Laura Big Crow from Pine Ridge during their Championship game. Pine Ridge would advance to the State tournament in Watertown with the win over Winner. PHOTO COURTESY Richard Kevin Winter
Lady Thorpes punch ticket to State A
By Joseph Budd
Native Sun News Correspondent For the Lady Thorpes, who last year advanced to the State tournament, this win had to be nice. By dispatching a Winner squad who was 16-6, the Lady Thorpes had only a single loss this year and have once again repeated as Region 7A winners. The Lady Thorpes began their season with huge expectations despite losing star forward Brooke Pond to a knee injury during the South Dakota State Volleyball tournament. Many of the same athletes who participated on that team which is widely considered to be the greatest in school history are now hoping to take the success they had during volleyball season and eclipse it in this year’s class A state basketball tournament. The Lady Thorpes will look for guidance from their well experienced coach Laura Big Crow, who herself led her own high school team to a runner up finish during her time playing at Pine Ridge. Now, their task will be to win it all, and their first opponent will not be far away. The team plays a Chamberlain squad, who dispatched the Cheyenne-Eagle Butte Lady Braves squad the same night. The Chamberlain Lady cubs have established themselves as a perennial powerhouse over the last decade and bring a style of play that is heavily reliant on defense, which is a must if they have hopes of slowing down the highly explosive Lady Thorpes offense led by Mcdonald’s All-American nominee Jolonna Sazue. For the Lady Thorpes, who have a great core of talent to draw from, were powered by Anissa Martin and Cortez Standing Bear, who both scored 15 points. Jolonna Sazue, who was right behind with 14, simply highlights this team’s advantage…any one person can step up to help lead the team to victory. The Lady Thorpes start their Tournament run on Thursday, March 7 in Watertown. (Contact Joseph Budd at joseph@rapidnet.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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