Blackhawks fall to Summit in semifinals

HURON — Defending Class B state champion Summit used a dominant first half to overcome Sanborn Central/Woonsocket 48-32 Friday night at the Huron Arena at the girls’ Class B state basketball tournament.

“We didn’t get off to a very good start,” Sanborn Central/Woonsocket head coach Tim McCain said. “We had some good looks at the basket. If we could have hit those early in the game, it might have changed things or kept the momentum for us … but we got down and maybe panicked a little bit, which showed a little bit of our youth.”

Fourth-seeded Sanborn Central/Woonsocket opened the game with a basket from Rachel Selland, but the Eagles, who hold the top seed in Class B, answered back with a 3-point shot from Logan O’Farrell.

After that, the Eagles went on a 13-0 run to bring the lead to 10. The Blackhawks’ next point came from a free-throw shot from Rachelle Moore with two minutes left in the first quarter. Summit outscored Sanborn Cen-tral/Woonsocket 18-6 in the first quarter.

“We executed very well,” Summit head coach Mark Amdahl said. “We came out and played with confidence and moved the basketball from side to side offensively and got open looks, and the girls knocked them down.”

The Eagles continued to dominate offensively during the second quarter, outscoring the Blackhawks 13-4.

Summit held Sanborn Central/Woonsocket to 10 first-half points and led by 21 points going into halftime.

“We told them to keep fighting,” McCain said of his halftime speech. “We said it’s a long game, and we wanted to try and cut the lead to 10 points … and we did a good job cutting the lead to 12, but then (Summit) stole the momentum right back from us.”

Logan and Presley O’Farrell led the Eagles with 15 points each.

Summit shot 17-of-43 from the field for 39 percent and went 9-of-16 from the free-throw line for 56 percent. The Eagles won the rebounding battle 35-17.

McCain said the loss was disappointing, but with such a young roster, he said his team has a bright future. Sanborn Central/Woonsocket has two seniors on its roster this year.

“I think these girls are a great group, and they’re going to keep working because I know they want to get back here again,” McCain said.

Rachel and Shelby Selland led the Blackhawks with seven points each. The Blackhawks shot 11-of-31 from the field for 35 percent and went 8-of-12 from the free-throw line for 66 percent.

Summit plays Sully Buttes today at 7:45 p.m. for the Class B state title, and Sanborn Central/Woonsocket takes on Faith today at 6 p.m. for third place.

Tags: girls state, sanborn central, sports, updates, basketball, woonsocket