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South Dakota Prep Media basketball polls for Dec. 12: Mitchell climbs in shake-up of Class AA boys rankings

landon dierks, the daily republic, mitchell, s.d.
·4 min read

Dec. 12—MITCHELL — While most teams across South Dakota only have one game played as the 2022-23 season continues to ramp up, that was more than enough for an early-season power shift among the Class AA boys ranks in the South Dakota Prep Media poll.

Yankton and Brandon Valley, neither of which received a single vote in the preseason poll, garnered jumped to No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, this week after each notching ranked road wins to start their seasons. The Bucks knocked off then-No. 2 Harrisburg, 66-61, while the Lynx took out then-No. 3 O'Gorman, 57-51. Harrisburg and O'Gorman both dropped out of the top five this week, with the Tigers holding on to five votes and the Knights clinging to one as the final team included in the poll.

Those results meant Sioux Falls Jefferson, which overcame a slow start to defeat two-time defending champion Sioux Falls Roosevelt in its season opener, claimed 14 of 15 first-place votes. Sioux Falls Lincoln moved up to No. 2 and took the other top vote, while Pierre moved up to No. 3 from No. 5.

Outside the top five, Mitchell went from the final team included in the preseason poll with a single vote to the top team in the receiving votes section with six, ahead of Harrisburg, Sioux Falls Washington, Roosevelt and O'Gorman.

None of the 15 teams ranked last week across all three classes of girls basketball fell from the rankings this week, but one of the top five in each class did take a loss.

In Class AA, that was Brandon Valley, which fell 54-41 to No. 1 O'Gorman and swapped places with Pierre at No. 4 and No. 5 as a result.

It was No. 1 St. Thomas More that stumbled in Class A, though the Cavaliers' loss came to Campbell County (Wyo.) and didn't cause them to fall from the top spot. However, it did narrow the gap between St. Thomas More and No. 2 Wagner from 24 votes last week to just four this week, as the Cavaliers had 15 first-place votes in the preseason diminish to eight, while Wagner's top votes jumped from two to six this week.

Class B preseason No. 2 Corsica-Stickney opened the season with a seven-point loss to Class A Chamberlain, which dropped the Jaguars to No. 5 this week. Notably, Corsica-Stickney has started the season without multi-time all-state selection Avery Broughton, who is still working back from a knee injury late last spring.

Lennox, which was No. 5 in Class A boys last week and even had a first-place vote, dropped from the poll completely after giving up 93 points in a 25-point loss to the new No. 5, Sioux Falls Christian.

The South Dakota Prep Media basketball polls for the week of Dec. 12 are listed below, ranking the top-five teams in each class. First-place votes are indicated in parentheses and teams are ranked by total points received.

Boys

Class AA

1. Sioux Falls Jefferson (14), 1-0, 74; 2. Sioux Falls Lincoln (1), 1-0, 60; 3. Pierre, 2-0, 41; 4. Yankton, 1-0, 19; 5. Brandon Valley, 1-0, 12. Others receiving votes: Mitchell 6, Harrisburg 5, Sioux Falls Washington 5, Sioux Falls Roosevelt 2, O'Gorman 1.

Class A

1. Dakota Valley (15), 1-0, 75; 2. Sioux Valley, 1-0, 58; 3. Dell Rapids, 1-0, 33; 4. St. Thomas More, 2-0, 29; 5. Sioux Falls Christian, 2-0, 21. Others receiving votes: Red Cloud 5, Hamlin 2, Winner 2.

Class B

1. White River (11), 1-0, 70; 2. De Smet (2), 1-0, 50; 3. Aberdeen Christian (1), 1-0, 42; 4. Lower Brule, 1-0, 31; 5. Castlewood (1), 0-0, 18. Others receiving votes: Gregory 5, Faith 3, Canistota 2, Wall 2, Harding County 1, Howard 1.

Girls

Class AA

1. O'Gorman (15), 1-0, 75; 2. Sioux Falls Jefferson, 1-0, 55; 3. Sioux Falls Washington, 1-0, 48; 4. Pierre, 2-0, 21; 5. Brandon Valley, 0-1, 15. Others receiving votes: Harrisburg 8, Sioux Falls Lincoln 1, Watertown 1, Rapid City Stevens 1.

Class A

1. St. Thomas More (8), 2-1, 67; 2. Wagner (6), 1-0, 63; 3. Hamlin (1), 1-0, 49; 4. Flandreau, 0-0, 22; 5. West Central, 1-0, 11. Others receiving votes: Sioux Falls Christian 5, Tea Area 3, Florence-Henry 3, Rapid City Christian 1, Lakota Tech 1.

Class B

1. Viborg-Hurley (15), 1-0, 75; 2. Wolsey-Wessington, 1-0, 54; 3. Castlewood, 0-0, 34; 4. Centerville, 2-0, 30; 5. Corsica-Stickney, 1-1, 21. Others receiving votes: De Smet 7, Sully Buttes 2, Jones County 1, Wall 1.