Rachel Gerlach's scoring and skill keeps Corsica-Stickney girls balanced

Mar. 2—CORSICA — Rachel Gerlach's outside shooting works wonders for the Corsica-Stickney girls basketball team.

For a Jaguars team that normally runs a system that consists of six to seven girls within the rotation, Gerlach is usually the best shooter on the floor, making 35% of her 3-pointers and 82% of her free throws this season. She ranks first in each category for Corsica-Stickney, as Gerlach shoots 12% better from behind the arc than other Jaguar in the starting lineup.

"Rachel's just one of those natural shooters," said Corsica-Stickney head coach Lorisa Broughton. "She's got that natural shooting touch and she's not scared to shoot. Even if she's missed a couple, she doesn't shy away from taking the next good shot. That's been a real plus for our team."

The senior has always been a solid shooter from the outside, even in her first opportunity with varsity during her eighth-grade season. Since her eighth-grade year, Gerlach has made at least 34 threes each season. So far this year, she has eight games with at least three 3-pointers made, including a season-high five 3-pointers against Menno on Jan. 28.

The second-leading scorer on the team at 14.1 points per game has only had two games all year where she didn't post double-digits in points. She tossed in a season-high of 24 points on Jan. 20 against Ethan, making that her fifth game of the year with 18 or more.

In her final run for a Class B state title, Gerlach said she understands the importance of her making an impact in each game at this point of the season.

"It's probably pretty important for me to help get us going and get us started," Gerlach said. "That way we're not in the slums in the second half, fighting an uphill battle and it will be less attention on my teammates."

At 19-3 this season and going for its third-straight state tournament appearance, Corsica-Stickney has one of the most balanced teams in Class B girls basketball. The losses this season for the Jaguars came at the hands of Class A's No. 1-seeded Wagner, another top-10 Class A school in Dakota Valley and Aberdeen Christian, a Class B school they could possibly see in the state tournament.

Leading Corsica-Stickney is Avery Broughton, a University of South Dakota commit that fills up the stat sheet, averaging 18.7 points, 10 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.7 steals and 2.5 blocks per contest. Battling down low with Broughton is Casey Tolsma, a senior forward averaging 9.3 points and 4.2 rebounds. Along with Gerlach on the perimeter, is senior point guard Morgan Clites, who averages 8.3 points, 4.7 assists and 2.5 steals per game. The trio of Broughton, Clites and Gerlach have been playing together since their freshman year and with Tolsma fitting right in with the unit, Gerlach said playing with this talent for a substantial amount of time has only paid dividends.

"Playing with them makes me a better player because we all just click together and we know what each other can do," Gerlach said. "Most of us have been stepping up and working together around Avery to help this team get to where we need to be. We've been playing pretty good and it's at the right time of the year."

Corsica-Stickney won its Region 6B quarterfinal matchup against Kimball/White Lake, taking an early 21-5 lead before ultimately winning 66-28. After having a 20-9 lead after the first quarter in the Region 6B semifinal against Gregory, Lorisa Broughton said the team started to get a little tight. They were outscored 12-6 in the third quarter, but managed to hold on for a five-point victory to advance to the SoDak 16.

Now the No. 4-seeded Jaguars play No. 13 Bridgewater-Emery in the SoDak 16, making it the second contest between the two this season. In the 71-55 win over the Huskies on Jan. 24, junior Payton DeLange, the fifth member of the starting lineup, led the Jaguars with 20 points. Lorisa Broughton said it's now the postseason and they can't completely use the first matchup to dictate how they'll approach this game, but they will need everyone to be ready.

"Whenever you play somebody twice, you can never go off that first game," Broughton said. "Things change and we both know a little bit more about each other. I expect to see the same things from them trying to take Avery and Rachel away and force us to have other girls step up. So we have to be ready to go one-through-five."

Broughton added, "We have to be ready to take away Julia Weber as well. She's a really good player that we have to make sure has to earn everything."

Weber, Bridgewater-Emery's senior guard, had 20 points, six assists and two steals to lead the Huskies in the loss on Jan. 24.

Corsica-Stickney plays Bridgewater-Emery in the Class B SoDak 16 at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Parkston High School.