The Wagner Lady Raiders are once again headed to the Class A State Basketball Tournament after a strong defensive performance in Irene last Thursday night.

Wagner defeated Dell Rapids 46-31 to secure their spot in the state tournament for the fourth time in the past five years. After a tightly contested first quarter, the Raiders began to pull away in the second half and held Dell Rapids to a season-low 31 points. Wagner’s defense took control late, allowing just eight points over the final 10 minutes of the game.

Ashlyn Koupal led the Raiders with a dominant performance, finishing with 23 points, 20 rebounds and eight blocks, while several teammates contributed key minutes in the victory.

With the win, Wagner advances to the Class A State Tournament in Watertown, where the Lady Raiders will open tournament play Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

The Lady Raiders traveled to Irene last Thursday night to take on the Dell Rapids Quarriers for a Class A State tournament birth. It was a slow go for both teams in the first as it was a kind of feel out the opponent to see what could really be done. The score was knotted at 5 with 2:34 left in the first as the Raiders would take a 8-5 lead after a deep 3 from Ashlyn Koupal with 43 seconds left in the quarter. In the 2nd Wagner would start to find separation and build as much as a 10 point lead late in the quarter but Dell Rapids would finish the half on a 4-0 run of their own to cut the Raider lead to 23-17 at the half. The 3rd quarter would start off as both teams would trade off baskets on first 3 possessions. Wagner would then call a time out to readjust their defensive scheme to stifle the Quarriers offensively. Wagner would hold as much as a 19 point lead mid-way through the 4th quarter and win 46-31 to advance to the State tournament for the 4th time in 5 years.

Wagner would shoot 18-43 for 42% while holding the Quarriers to 13-62 for 21%. Wagner would edge out Dell Rapids on the glass 37-34. Wagner would commit 17 turnovers compared to just 9 from Dell Rapids. Ashlyn Koupal would lead all scorers with 23 points, 20 boards, 8 blocks, and 3 steals. Hannah Holzbauer would have a game off the bench scoring 9 points, grabbing 3 boards dishing out 3 assists. Ravyn Medricky would battle with the bigs from Dells and post 7 points, and grab 8 boards. Hayden Knudsen would add 4 points, 5 boards, dish out a team high 4 assists and grab 2 steals. Braxton Nedved would round out the scoring with 3 points and dish out 3 assists.

“What a great atmosphere to play in as we were in front of a packed crowd. Defensively lights out again holding them to a season low 31 points when they were averaging 58. We allowed only 8 points in the last 10 minutes of the game where we started to really wear them out physically running up and down the court on them pushing our lead to nearly 20 with 4 minutes left in the game. Offensively we started the game a little tight with nerves. We tried forcing a little bit too much early where in the first we had nearly half of our turnovers in the game. We settled down, moved the ball and finished shots when we needed to. We also did a very good job on their bigs inside allowing both of them to a combined 5 points and one didn’t even score. They also had a really good guard who led all scorers with 15 at the half and we held her to 6 points in the second counting her buzzer beater to end the game. Now we are guaranteed 3 more games to continue the season. Hope to see many of you this Thursday night at 6:30 up in Watertown! Great job ladies and keep taking one game at a time!”