Mitchell girls basketball downs Rapid City Central, moves back above .500

MITCHELL — After every win, the Mitchell girls basketball team does “Kernel jacks” in the locker room.

Saturday was no different, after the Kernels took down Rapid City Central 46-37 at the Corn Palace.

This time, though, it was senior Keira Hofer — whose five first-quarter points helped Mitchell jump out to a lead it never relinquished — that led the team in jumping jacks as they spelled out Kernels with each rep.

“Keira (Hofer) is loved by her teammates. … She did the ‘Kernel jacks,’ led us in that after the game and everybody just went crazy,” head coach Dave Brooks said. “Those are fun times when you have a kid come off the bench and give you a spark.”

Hofer helped the Kernels jump out to a 9-2 lead to open the game, which eventually turned into a 28-18 advantage at the half. Much of Mitchell’s offense against the Cobblers on Saturday came against the 2-3 zone, where Mitchell had Sawyer Stoebner at the elbow to create offense.

Stoebner finished the game with eight points but added a season-high seven assists to her line, as well as nine rebounds and four steals.

“Sawyer (Stoebner) in the middle is pretty dangerous because she can go up and get that (entry) pass and then she's able to distribute it to the open person,” Brooks said. “And then she's a threat herself, going to the hoop or shooting that jump shot.”

Addie Siemsen led Mitchell in scoring, putting up 11 points on 4 of 8 shooting from the floor and 3 of 6 shooting from 3-point range. As a team, the Kernels knocked down six of their 16 (37.5%) 3-point tries and shot 17-for-43 (39.5%) from the field. Allison Meyerink had eight points and eight rebounds for Mitchell, Carsyn Weich had six points and Lauren Van Overschelde and Delana Henkel both had four.

For Central (4-9), Teila Jiron put up 12 points and Marielle Colhoff had nine.

The Kernels improved to 6-5 with the win and ended a two-game losing streak. Mitchell will host No. 3-ranked Sioux Falls Jefferson on Tuesday, Jan. 31 in its next contest.

“I said, ‘(Saturday is) the chance to get back above .500. … We start the second half of the season — 20-game season — So let’s get it off to a good start,’” Brook said. “Jefferson will have our hands full, no question about it. Everybody in the state has their hands full when Jefferson comes to town.”