Parkston girls basketball enjoys surging start to season in Class A
Jan. 6—PARKSTON, S.D. — The Parkston High School girls basketball team was on the fringe of reaching the Class A state tournament a year ago.
The Trojans were 15-7 and finished one game short in the SoDak 16, falling as a No. 11 seed to No. 6 Belle Fourche, 50-46.
Since then, sixth-year head coach Brooke Horstman has found her team to be fully committed to taking a good team to the next level and finding a way to be great. So far, Parkston is 8-0 and has looked impressive doing it. The Trojans average nearly 55 points per game and have allowed 37.6 points per game early in the season, which both rank among the top-15 in Class A.
"They get along so well and they're unselfish," Horstman said. "They're willing to do what is necessary. They have bought into defense and we have preached defense from Day 1 and they believe that we can be a great team, not just settle with being a good team."
The success has come despite some roster turnover and a shortened preseason due to the Trojans qualifying for the Class A state tournament in volleyball. Horstman said she wasn't totally sure how her team would start the season, but will take the strong start.
"We didn't have as much of a runup to our season and those two weeks of being in the gym and working with the kids," she said. "But the kids have been ready to play, and I'll absolutely take the start we've had to the season."
The Trojans are led by the team's three seniors — Allison Ziebart, Lindsey Roth and Brielle Bruening — in the starting lineup, joined by two juniors in Abby Hohn and Faith Oakley. Hohn, in particular, has been a welcomed returner to the lineup after missing nearly the entire 2020-21 season with an injury. Hohn, a 5-foot-10 guard, has scored in double-figures in five of the first eight games for the Trojans.
Off the bench, the Trojans have mixed in a number of players, ranging from sophomores and freshmen to seventh-graders.
"We have a good group of young kids that are coming up that haven't played a lot, so we're spending a lot of time in practice trying to get them ready," Horstman said. "It's taking some time but we want them to have a chance to be successful when they come in and play."
In particular, Parkston has beaten Viborg-Hurley, Winner and Hanson in the last three games. Each of them were state tournament qualifiers in 2021, with Hanson and Viborg-Hurley qualifying in Class B (the Beavers are now in Class A), and Winner playing in the last three Class A state tournaments. It's early but the Trojans have passed those tests against consistently strong programs, as Parkston looks for its first state tournament trip since 2012.
"We say that the goal is not going 20-0. The goal is the state tournament, the goal is playing deep into March," Horstman said. "It's going to take some lumps to get there. You're not going to walk into the state tournament, beating everyone by 30. And if you do, you haven't been pushed and you're not going to be ready. Our kids have to be pushed and they're responding to that."
Five of the Trojans' wins have been at home, which is where they'll be for their next game on Friday, Jan. 7 against Vermillion. Looming after that is a road showdown with fellow undefeated region foe Wagner on Jan. 13 and a game on Jan. 15 in the Hanson Classic at the Corn Palace.
