The Rapid City Central boys basketball team used a second-half surge to dominate Sturgis on Tuesday in Naasz Gymnasium..
After a subpar shooting performance in the first half, leading by 13 at the break, the Cobblers hit a plethora of shots in the second, outscoring the Scoopers 39-13 for a 70-31 victory.
âWe didnât shoot the ball really well in the first half, and we let that determine how we played defensively,â Central head coach TJ Hay said. âBut I thought we bounced back and did a good job in the second half.â
Micah Swallow scored 14 points in the second half and finished with a double-double for the Cobblers with 20 points on 8 of 20 shooting and 11 rebounds. Kohl Meisman tallied 13 first-half points and ended with 19 on 8 of 15 shooting, and Julian Swallow added nine points, four assists and four steals. Ryker Henne also hauled in 11 boards.
Journal Staff
Olivia Kieffer scored more points than all of Lyman on Friday, tallying 41 as the Rapid City Christian girls basketball team crushed the Raiders 85-28 at Hart Ranch.
Kieffer, a sophomore, notched her 1,000th career point as well and picked up nine assists, nine steals and seven rebounds for the Lady Comets. Alexa Ham added 18 points, Savannah Armendariz earned 10 points and Morgan Swarthout collected seven assists.
RC Christian (1-1) plays St. Thomas More on the road Jan. 2.
WALL 61, HARDING COUNTY 45:Â Ava Dinger scored 20 points as the Lady Eagles topped the Ranchers at home Saturday afternoon.
Dinger went 8 of 15 shooting for Wall (3-0), while Lilly Wagner added 10 points and Paige Kjerstad hauled in 10 rebounds.
Richard Anderson
Journal staff
The Rapid City Central boys basketball team has struggled to get its season in gear like most area squads, but it didn t show early Saturday night against the Douglas Patriots.
The Cobblers jumped out to a 20-4 lead through the first quarter of play and went on to take it to the Patriots 61-43 at Patriots Gym in Box Elder.
Although Douglas had the momentum going in after a 40-point win over Sturgis Friday night, it was Central that had the early edge with an aggressive start on both ends of the court.
Central led by as much as 24 points before the Patriots hit some shots in the final minute to close the gap.
Richard Anderson
Journal staff
As the founder of Sacred Hoops, a state-wide youth AAU youth basketball program, Allan Bertram has been pretty busy the past few years.
He added to that workload this past summer when he took over the Rapid City Central girlsâ basketball program.
Despite some ups and downs because of the coronavirus pandemic, Bertram said it has been an exciting time since taking over, especially with how hard the team has worked since his hiring in June.
The goal now is to get the Central girls back to state prominence.
âOur girls have worked extensively throughout the off-season,â he said Wednesday during practice at Naasz Gymnasium. âWe werenât able to have practice that first week because of the COVID guidelines, but our kids, because of the time they spent in the gym in the offseason, have really improved their skillset. I think that helped because they were a little more ready than they normally would have been.â