Strong finish to the 2023-24 season didn't lead to state-tourney berth for Arrows
The 2023-24 Watertown High School girls basketball team deserves a lot of credit for not giving up and recording a solid finish.
After falling to 2-10 with a seven-game losing streak to open January, the Arrows won five of their next eight games before their season ended with a 52-41 loss to Sioux Falls Jefferson in a SoDak 16 state Class AA qualifier on March 1.
Following a team that went 12-12 and ended the longest state-tournament drought in program history (14 years), Watertown wasn't able to continue the streak but did make a lot of progress.
"You look at the first part of the year and we were playing against some really tough teams. Mitchell and Pierre each created 30 turnovers and beat us handily," Watertown head coach Chad Rohde said. "The girls just started taking care of the ball and started playing better."
Early-season struggles shouldn't have been a surprise
For Rohde, and assistants Mackenzie Buelow, Stacey Henricks and Elli Stevenson, the Arrows opened the season with a team that graduated four-year guards Jaida Young and Maddy Rohde, along with Kendall Paulson. The trio produced nearly 50-percent of the team's offensive production in 2022-23.
The loss of offense and ballhandling each took awhile to replace.
"We lost about 40 points a game in offense and when that happens, you're have to try to recover it from somewhere," Rohde said.
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Emery Thury, a 5-foot-10 junior forward, stepped up to lead the team with 10.5 points per game. The All-Eastern South Dakota Conference performer also led the squad in rebounhds (187), assists (72) and steals (58).
Seniors Miranda Falconer (7.8 ppg) and Jade Lund (7.5 ppg, team-leading 40 3-pointers) also stepped into bigger roles this winter and joined classmates Addi Johnston (5.6 ppg) and Avery Munger (4.3 ppg) in the starting lineup.
Defense and playing half-court ball
One constant throughout the season for the Arrows was their defense and the numbers would have been better if so many early season turnovers didn't lead to opposition points.
Watertown more than held its own down the stretch with a good defense and by having success in their half-court offense.
"I kind of say that defense is the strength of our team always and that you can create a lot of offensive firepower by the defensive power you create," Rohde said.
The silver lining of the solid finish could be diminished a bit when listing that all seven of the team's wins came across squads that had losing records. Watertown did have some big losses, including a 40-point losses to eventual state champion O'Gorman in early January.
Progress could continue in the future
No matter, the team basically tripled its win total in the final month of the regular season and though final seniors Neely Johnson and Adysen Huyvaert will join starters Johnston, Falconer, Lund and Munger as graduates, there are a number of players returning who gained valuable experience.
"We lose six seniors and there are so many more things you lose other than productivity on the court," Rohde said. "Even Ady Huyvaert, who didn't play much, was one of the leaders of the team just with her attitude and demeanor every day in practice. We're losing some really good kids."
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The list of potential returnees next winter will obviously be led by Thury. The group includes fellow juniors Madisyn Grimsrud and Emma and Molly Hendricks; sophomores Kynsee Russell, Malia Kranz and Sarita Stevenson; and freshman Jordan Remmers.
"Some of those young kids really got to play quite a bit. That should only help easier their transition into bigger roles next year," Rohde said.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Season recap for the 2023-24 Watertown High School girls basketball team
