The Lady Raiders headed out to Spearfish this last weekend for the girls class A state tournament. Wagner opened up with the undefeated Mahpiya Luta. Wagner would find themselves trailing 15-14 after the first period then trailing by 9 at the half. A scoring drought from the last 2 minutes of the first half and the first 5 of the third quarter would not make it any easier on the Raiders as they would eventually fall 39-76. Mahpiya Luta would use their relentless press and cause 37 turnovers for the Raiders. Wagner would attempt 39 shots and convert on 41% while Mahpiya Luta would convert on 33-74 for 45%. Wagner would out rebound Mahpiya Luta 28-27. Ashlyn Koupal would lead the Raiders with 25 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks. Lydia Yost would finish with 5 points, and 4 boards. Genesis Patterson would tally 4 points, while Braxton Nedved would finish with 3, 3 boards, and 5 assists. Ravyn Medricky would round out the scoring with 2 points and 3 boards. “This was a very good team that we faced. They loved the up-tempo style. When we got them into a half-court game we did a lot of things very well. We scored at a high rate and on the defensive end we made the hit shots in which they were struggling. It’s very hard to win games with 37 turnovers and let the opposing team take 44 more shots than you. We also hit that 7-minute scoring drought that let them push the lead to 20 early in the 3rd and that can be demoralizing as a team, but our girls played hard to the finish.”

Wagner would face a very talented and on coming Sioux Valley team in the consolation round on Friday. Wagner would take an early 8-2 lead and then find themselves trailing 13-15 after the first, never again taking the lead. The Raiders would keep the game within reach of 6 but would eventually fall short 46-56. Ashlyn Koupal would lead all scorers with 24 points, dish out a team high 6 assists, grab 4 boards, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Mateya Bruguier would have a great game off the bench with 12 points and 5 boards. Ravyn Medricky finished with 6 points and 6 boards. Lydia Yost rounded out the scoring with 4 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Braxton Nedved dished out 5 assists as Genesis Patterson had 2 assists. Wagner was 16-39 from the floor for 41% while the Cossacks were 19-48 for 40%. Both teams turned over the ball 14 times and the Cossacks out rebounded the Raiders 35-20. Wagner would struggle from the line converting only 9-20. “We played well enough to give ourselves a chance to win this game. We didn’t do a great job on the glass. They had 10 more offensive boards than us and that played a factor in a 6 point game down the stretch as well as our free throws. We could have easily flipped the script on this game. It’s very hard to turn-around less than 24 hours and play another physical game. We are very proud of the way we played and the effort that we left on the floor. '

In our 3rd and final game for 7th and 8th place we matched up against our Region 5 foe, the Mt. Vernon Plankinton Titans. The Titans would take an early 3-2 lead but then the Raiders would open the flood gates on the scoring and hold the Titans to just 2 field goals in the first half to take a commanding 34-7 lead into the locker room. The Titans wouldn’t go away easily as fatigue slowly wore its way on the Raiders. The titans would outscore the Raiders 40-25 in the second half and cut the lead down to as little as 9 but Wagner would knock down free throws late and come away with 7th place by the score of 59-47. Wagner was 20-48 from the floor for 42%, grabbed 36 boards and dished out 15 assists. The Titans were 19-62 for 31%, grab 28 boards and dish out 15 assists. Ashlyn Koupal would nearly get another triple-double with 33 points, 11 boards, 9 blocks, and 3 steals. Lydia Yost would cap off her high school career with 16 points, 8 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Braxton Nedved would finish with 6 points, and dish out 3 assists. Ravyn Medricky would finish with 2 points, 9 boards, and 2 assists. Hayden Knudsen would finish with 2 points, 3 boards, and 2 steals. Genesis Patterson would grab 3 boards while Mateya Bruguier would grab 2 boards and 2 steals. “There are only 4 teams in every class that end up with a win and we are proud to say we are 1 of them. It was a grind and you could see it on the kids the second half of this game. We played extremely well the first half and we did what we needed to do in the second to secure the win. We are proud of how our kids handled ourselves this weekend, both on and off the court. We want to thank our Seniors, Lydia, Genesis, and Steph for being great leaders and teammates to all our kids from 11th grade down to our 7th graders. You have shown them what is expected both on and off the court. We wish you the best of luck in all that you do! To the underclassman, we have another off season to reload and get back to where we were this year and expect just a little more. Parents, thank you for all that you have done this season. Your support doesn’t go unnoticed. To our custodians and our school administration, we have the best here at Wagner and we are so proud of it. Our facilities are awesome not just for extracurricular activities but for education in general! A huge shout out to Laken Nedved for helping organize all the girls goodie baskets to send for the girls! A shout out to all the moms that helped organize the pep rallies while out in Spearfish.

We get great support from our community and that is so awesome to see all that made the long trek out to Spearfish! It’s always great to be a Red Raider! We represented that both on and off the court all weekend. A big thank you to these business and people who reached out to us upon making the state tournament: R.F Buche, Dave’s Service, Iron Kingdom, Valley Pump, Dwayne and Rosie Koupal, Steph Atencio’s Family, Best Propane, Grind House 46, Jolene and Harry Medicine Bear, Libby Renbarger, Deb and Wally Voigt, Stacy Holzbauer, Tracy Hopkins, B-Lou’s Bar, The Boys and Girls Club, Jen Primeaux, Apparel Worx, Jamie Soukup, Joey Soukup from Sioux Falls, Bethany Drapeau, Subway, Chet Ellefson from Colorado, Yankton Sioux Housing, Caseys-Donnette, Tammy, Korey Patterson, Doug Powers, Scott Felicia, and Farm Life Creamery-Chad Blaze and Laura Klock from Ethan. I am sure I am missing some and I apologize if I did.