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Walking down the pavement of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, you stop in solemn silence, staring at a small section of names of the fifty-eight thousand engraved into the black gloss memorial designed by Maya Lin. Do these names hold any significance to you? Or are they just meaningless letters carved into stone? To comprehend the lives of each man and woman here is like trying to understand the heavens above us. It is impossible to truly grasp, and this memorial only represents the fallen soldiers from one war out of the many the United States has fought. Each soldier had a life with individual beliefs, families, and passions. Each soldier was an ordinary person who undertook extraordinary ventures. Behind each name is a person. Behind each person is a story. Behind each story is a lesson. These lessons instill love and pride for our beautiful country. These lessons instill bravery and valor for all the hardships and suffering we face. These lessons instill camaraderie and altruism for our brothers and sisters. We learn these lessons from soldiers throughout our nation’s history.
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The Lady Raiders opened the state tournament against a very good Rapid City Christian team that featured one of the top players in the state scoring over 2400 points in her career. That wouldn’t scare the Raiders as they would jump out to an early 12-0 lead and then hold a 16-3 lead after one. RCC would trail by as many as 15 but trim the lead back to 12 trailing 28-16 going into half. The Comets would continue to chip away and cut the lead to 6 late in the third but a three by Eve Zephier would push the lead back to 9 after three quarters. Wagner’s sharp shooters would do some major damage in the 4th hitting 5 triples out scoring the Comets 22-13 in the final quarter to win the game 67-47. Ashlyn Koupal would lead all scorers with 22 points, 6 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Emma Yost would post another double-double by adding 17 points, 12 boards, and 3 blocks. Shalayne Nagel would add 14 points, 5 boards, and 3 assists. Macy Koupal would be the 4th Raider in double figures with 11 points, 10 boards, and 6 assists. Eve Zephier would round out the scoring with 3 points, 6 points, and a team high 7 assists. Lydia Yost would grab 3 boards and dish out 1 assist. Overall the Raider were 24-44 for 55% while the Comets were 16-59 for 27%. Wager would out rebound the Comets 4228. The Raiders would commit 17 turnovers compared to 6 from the Rapid City Christian. “This was a great way to start the tournament. We hit big shots when we needed to and we had our hands full with one of the best scorers in the state. We kept her scoreless the first quarter and forced her into some very difficult shots. For the most part we handled their press and then converted in the half court offensively.”
Read moreOn Championship Saturday the Lady Raiders would clash with the Hamlin Chargers. It was two heavy weights going blow for blow in the first half. Both teams would score on f 5 of their first 6 possessions. Wagner then would get a burst and take a 20-11 lead, but Hamlin would hit a three at the buzzer to cut the lead 20-14 after one. The second quarter would be an exact flip as Hamlin would come storming out and eventually take a 6 point lead only to see Wagner cut it down to 1 at the half trialing 34-33. Hamlin would push their lead to as much as 9 in the third only to see Wagner make a surge late to cut the lead down to three trailing 46-43. Wagner would not be able cut into that three point lead. They would get it to 1 a few times but Hamlin would hit 2 free throws late to defeat the Raiders 58-55. Emma Yost on her high ankle sprain she obtained late in the game against Sisseton would lead the Raiders with 13 points, 7 boards, 8 assists, and 2 blocks. Shalayne Nagel would follow that with 12 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Ashlyn Koupal would also finish with 12 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Lydia Yost would finish with 9 points and 3 boards, Macy Koupal would tally 7 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists. Eve Zephier would round out the scoring with 2 points and 4 steals. Wagner would shoot 24-42 for 57% from the floor while Hamlin would shoot 20-49 from 40%. Wagner would get out rebounded 25-19. The game would be decided on the line not at the fate of the Raiders. Wagner would shoot only 3 free throws compared to 14 from the Chargers. “This was a hard-fought game. Our girls left it all out on the court. They fought until the end and gave us a shot in the end. That’s all we can ask as coaches. We shot the ball very well. We didn’t quite do as well as we should have on the glass but the game was played very physical. That would favor them and we didn’t get the fouls called on our end. Something we can’t control so we play on. As coaches we are so proud of the way our girls handled themselves with class on the court throughout the season. We wish Emma, Shalayne, and Eve the best next year when they are all playing college ball. These three ladies have led our underclassman and modeled for them what a team should entail. You will truly be missed. We would also like to thank Mary and Dennis Merkwan for donating pizza’s for our supper before Region play. I would like to also thank Amy Yost for organizing our meals before the SoDak 16 game and State. Laken Nedved was a huge part of the behind the scenes for helping out with getting a lot of stuff organized for heading to STATE. A huge shout out to these businesses for helping out with our state travel kits: Dave’s Service, Iron Kingdom, Valley pump, fort randall credit union, first Dakota bank, fort randall telephone, fort randall casino, YSHA, WCMHA, Mid Town, Best Propane, Buches, Bomgaars, Wagner Family Dental, YST, Photography by Daneille, First Chiropractic, Lori Bouza, Rosie Koupal, Vision Care, Jen Robertson, Leah Insko, Juffers, Lynette Greger, Jamie Tjeerdsma, Lisa Tolliver, Libby Renbarger, Traci Payer, Bernie Hill, Booms, Town and country, Boys and Girls Club, WBS, Access Granted, Wagner Vet, Lynell Knoll, Subway, Grind House 46, Gus stop, Jody and Crystal Zephier. Another huge thank you to these people for helping with meals while at STATE: Joey and Kristan Soukup, Clay and Traci Payer, Max and Sandy Ellefson, Dwayne and Rosie Koupal, David and Rachel Woods, Joel and Liz Naminga, Jamie and Char Soukup with So-Co Pioneer, Bob Krcil, and Pat and Cindy Krcil. This just shows what a great community we have in Wagner. Thank you for all of those who traveled to Watertown to support us and thank you for all of those who were cheering from at home as well and reached out. This truly was a very, fun and successful season.”
Read moreThe Lady Raiders would head into the Semi Finals against a formable opponent that had size and shooters to match up with Wagner. It was like a replay from the Rapid City Christian game. The Raiders would jump all over the Redman with a commanding 16-4 lead after one. The Raider would take a 29-15 lead into he half. Both teams would continue to score points quickly in the third quarter. Sisseton would cut the lead down to 8 only to see that grow balloon back to 11 after the third quarter as Macy Koupal would hit her 3rd trey of the quarter at the buzzer. Wagner once again would dominate the 4th quarter out scoring Sisseton 19-12 and take a 63-45 victory and find themselves in the Championship game in Class A. Ashlyn Koupal would tally 27 points, 9 boards, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Macy Koupal would tally 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists. Emma Yost would be the second player with a double-double with 14 points, 14 boars, and 3 assists. Shalayne Nagel would round out the scoring with 5 points, 3 boards, 3 blocks, 3 steals, and 2 assists. Eve Zephier would grab 3 boards, and dish out 2 assists while Lydia Yost would also grab 3 boards, and dish out 1 assist. Wagner would hit 18--40 from the floor for 40% while the Redman would go 19-55 for 35%. Wagner would hit 22-34 from the charity stripe while Sisseton would go 4-7. Wagner would out rebound the Redman 39-30. “Another great job defensively. With another tight game we switched to zone and held them scoreless for almost 3 minutes. We knocked down a lot of free throws late. They had some really decent size and matched up well with us inside. Once they had to rotate one of their posts out we took advantage of mismatches and executed our high low game.”
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THREE RAIDERS MADE ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM IN THE 2023 GIRLS CLASS A STATE TOURNAMENT
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