South Dakota high school girls state basketball tournament predictions: Who will win in each class?
History will be made in South Dakota on Saturday as three girls basketball teams etch their names into the history books at the state tournament.
The field across all three brackets is stacked, with several teams in each class capable of walking away with the state title.
The Argus Leader combed through the brackets, analyzed potential matchups and came away with predictions for the three state championship games.
Class AA: O’Gorman
The Knights are on a mission this season. They've been far and away the best team in AA and enter the state tournament undefeated.
They're led by South Dakota State commit Mahli Abdouch, who is as dangerous a player as there is in the state, but they also have plenty of depth. Senior guard Lucy Moore is a gritty guard who is disruptive on defense, Aweng Akoi and Julia Eggert both bring great size and are threats down low on both ends of the court, and Sydney Terveen, who's only a sophomore, has shown flashes of her potential.
The Knights are known for their ability to full-court press and cause havoc. They'll certainly be the favorites to win the state title.
Mitchell should also be in the conversation with their 19-2 record and the way they were able to play the Knights close when they met in February.
After the Kernels, Jefferson and Brandon Valley likely have the next-best odds to win the title.
Runner-up: Mitchell
Class A: Flandreau
The Fliers and senior guard Claire Sheppard have unfinished business.
Flandreau, a largely young team, finished sixth in the state tournament last season after going 20-6 in the regular season. The Fliers started the regular season as the favorites and a state title would fit the team’s upward trajectory. Flandreau has taken another step forward and enters the state tournament undefeated.
Other contenders include Sisseton, Mahpiya Luta and Sioux Falls Christian. Sisseton enters the tournament with only one loss to Sioux Falls Christian, while Mahpiya Luta enters undefeated. The Chargers are 20-2 with losses to Wagner and No. 4 Vermillion.
Runner-up: Mahpiya Luta
Class B: Centerville
Class B is the most wide open and thus, the most difficult to predict.
Harding County is the lone undefeated team in the Class B state tournament but is the 2-seed. The No. 1 seeded Arlington finished the season 21-2 and will have a difficult path to the state final. They lost to Class A favorite Flandreau and Ethan, who they’ll have to beat to make the finals. They also open the tournament against James Valley Christian who they narrowly defeated in the regular season.
That leaves us with Centerville and Ethan as the two favorites to come out of Class B. Both sides are led by talented players in Althea Gust and Ava Lingemann, but the Tornadoes have great depth and have been the more consistent team, beating everyone they’re supposed to beat and have even earned wins over a couple Class A teams in Canton and West Central. Their only losses were against Class A teams while Ethan fell to Freeman, who didn’t make this year’s state tournament.
Runner-up: Ethan
Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez1@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFERN31
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SD high school girls state basketball tournament predictions
