Class B girls' basketball honors: Hanson’s Robinson earns first-team all-state honor

Watertown - Figuring out how to stop the best player on Summit High School's girls' basketball team was double trouble for foes this season.

Twin sisters Logan and Presley O'Farrell - a pair of 6-foot junior guards - sparked the Eagles to a 24-2 record. Summit made its seventh straight appearance in the state Class B tournament, winning the championship for the third time in four years.

The O'Farrells are among 15 players selected to the Class B girls' all-state team as chosen by the South Dakota Basketball Coaches Association and the South Dakota Sportswriters Association.

"I'm really happy having both of them, because the biggest thing is that they're great on both ends of the floor. They're a bad matchup for anyone," Summit head coach Mark Amdahl said. "If you put a guard on them, we can post them up and if you put a post on them, we put them on the perimeter and have them either penetrate or shoot. It isn't often that 6-0 guards who are that athletic come around."

Logan is one of five players named to the All-State first team after a season in which she produced 16.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists and nearly five steals per game. Presley spearheads the second team. She averaged 13.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3.8 steals per game.

Summit, without a senior on its squad, closed the season with 19 straight wins and won three state-tourney games by an average margin of 19 points.

The O’Farrells are the daughters of former Summit standout Lori Wohlleber, who is one of the top scorers in South Dakota girls’ basketball history with 2,490 points.

“We were a well-balanced club and those two girls we’re really unselfish,” Amdahl said. “The best thing about Logan and Presley is that they averaged fewer than 10 shots per game. They both shot over 50 percent. It didn’t take them a lot of shots to get their points.”

Other first-team selections include juniors Kieran O’Malley of Centerville and Taylor Trohkimoinen of Newell and seniors Ashley Robinson of Hanson and Jussy Tuscherer of Northwestern.

O’Malley was a repeat selection on the first team after a season in which she tallied 23.2 points, 4.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game.

The 5-foot-7 guard, who led Centerville to a 17-4 record, already holds her school’s records for career points (1,887) and steals (284).

“Kieran is a testament to hard work,” Centerville head coach Jamie Parish said. “It would be impossible to count the number of hours she has put into improving her skills and games she has played.”

Robinson, a third-team selection as a junior, closed her high school career as the senior leader for a Hanson team that went 21-5 and placed sixth in the state tournament.

The 6-0 senior forward tallied 20.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game for the Beavers. She ended her career with 1,347 points and 701 rebounds.

“Ashley is an outstanding talented student athlete who is very coachable and has been a very big part of Hanson’s success during her high school years,” said Hanson head coach Jim Bridge.

For the first time during her four years as a varsity regular, Trohkimoinen didn’t get to play in a state tournament. Newell still compiled a 15-7 record behind the 6-0 guard, who averaged 16.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 4.7 steals per outing.

“The teams she has played on at Newell are a combined 86-14,” said Newell head coach Scott Wince. “She has already set eight school records and reached the 1,000-point mark for her career early this season.”

Tuscherer led Northwestern to the state Class B volleyball championship in the fall and continued her success on the court in the winter.

The 5-10 forward, a four-year starter in basketball who will play volleyball at Northern State University, collected 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game for the 16-6 Wildcats.

“Jussy did so many things for our basketball team. Her athleticism created tough matchups for opposing teams and allowed her to defend both the perimeter and the post,” said Northwestern head coach Richard Osborn. “Her leadership on and off the court will be missed.”

Presley O’Farrell is joined on the second team by seniors Emily Kay of Warner, Paige Herrboldt of Freeman and Anna Leloux of Parker and junior Tearnee Nelson of Faith. Herrboldt is a repeat second-team honoree and Leloux moved up from the third team.

The third team features seniors Mikayla Saathoff of Estelline, Samantha Blake of Centerville and Taryn Colson of state runner-up Sully Buttes, junior Shauni Schwartz of Herreid-Selby and sophomore Shelby Selland of Sanborn Central/Woonsocket.

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