The Parkston High School girls' basketball team has had some close calls so far this season, but up until Saturday, it had been able to pull through and win in those close games.
Saturday night, the Trojans met up with an opponent with an upset on its mind. Parkston, previously undefeated and ranked No. 3 in Class A, suffered its first loss of the season, 43-34 to St. Thomas More at the Hanson Classic at the Corn Palace.
The Trojans are now 10-1 and STM, which received votes in last week's poll, is 8-1.
"St. Thomas More has a very nice team, there's no doubt about that," said Parkston coach Rob Van Laecken, who picked up his 500th career victory with a one-point win over Wagner Thursday. "I'm not making excuses, but we've had two games this week and Thursday was a lot of emotion for us. I didn't want it to get that way, but the kids wanted to win that game, plus it's our rival. I think our legs were gone in the second half."
Parkston jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the low-scoring first half. The Cavaliers were able to chip away at the lead and made it a 10-8 game late in the half, but eighth-grader Logan Wagner converted a three-point play to push the lead back out to five.
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The Trojans held a 14-10 lead at the half despite shooting just 1-for-5 from the line.
Marie Malloy hit a three to start the second half and push Parkston's lead to seven, 17-10, but St. Thomas More went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 21 and then used a 6-0 run to grab a lead it would never give up.
The Cavaliers were 12-for-18 from the line in the final six minutes of the game to pull away.
"Our energy level was so much more intense in the first half," Van Laecken said. "We didn't finish. We had great shots, we just couldn't finish."
A 35-second shot clock and 16-minute halves were used for the first time during this year's Hanson Classic as part of an experiment for the SDHSAA. Class A and B teams had the option to use halves or a shot clock or both during in-season classics and tournaments after a shot clock was added to boys' and girls' Class AA basketball.
"The last eight to 10 minutes, if we could have run some offense instead of running up and down ... but we couldn't do that," Van Laecken said. "We're 10-1. We're proud of the kids."
Wagner finished with 11 points to lead Parkston and Malloy added nine. Jenna Reiser had eight rebounds. The Trojans were 11-for-50 from the field and 8-for-18 from the line.
Caitlin Duffy led all scorers with 20 points for the Cavaliers, who play Tuesday at Belle Fourche. Duffy also had 12 rebounds.
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The Trojans play Bon Homme Friday in Tyndall.
Parkston 14 34
STM 10 43
