Watertown girls halt losing streak and other WHS, ACHS highlights from Jan. 25-30

Watertown High School's boys basketball team is getting ready for the stretch run of what has been a wild season of Class AA hoops in South Dakota.

The Arrows (7-6) closed out the January portion of their schedule with a 61-54 home loss to Sioux Falls Lincoln on Tuesday in the Civic Arena.

The loss dropped Watertown from 10th to 12th in the Class AA seed standings, which could undergo some drastic changes in the final month. Mitchell (11-1), Harrisburg (9-2), Sioux Falls Roosevelt (9-3) and Sioux Falls Washington (10-3) are sitting on top, but many of the other teams sitting below the top four are very comparable.

"Unlike a normal year, I think we can say that Mitchell and Harrisburg have probably separated themselves and Roosevelt and Washington are kind of up there now," Watertown coach Pat McClemans siad. "Now the teams from No. 5 through No. 13, I think they'll feel like whoever they play will be a good matchup for them. Because there is so much parity and so many teams who are very similar to each other, I don't think anybody is going to be intimidated by anybody."

A tough stretch ahead for Arrows

Tuesday's loss was the first of four-straight games against Sioux Falls schools for Watertown, which also has rematches against Huron and Abedeen Central and a a home game against Harrisburg in February.

Trying to get a home game in the SoDak 16 playoffs (top eight) is certainly a goal still alive for the Arrows. More importantly, however, is to avoid a disastrous collapse that produces a drop to 14-16.

"There's definitely oppurtunities for us to win games but we've got to get away from being consistently inconsistent," McClemans said. "We've had too many quarters where we've gone 3 1/2 to 4 minutes where we don't get a basket."

That was the case on Tuesday against a Lincoln team, now only 6-7, that included a number of athetes from their unbeaten Class 11AAA football championship team in the fall.

Lincoln slowed down Watertown with some full-court pressure and did a good job defensively on a number of Arrows.

"Their press didn't bother us much from the standpoint of turninig it over, but it slowed us down," McClemans said. "I just felt we didn'thave an opportunity to play at the pace we wanted but when we did, we got the shots we wanted to get."

It just wasn't Watertown's night

It appeared early that the visiting Patriots were going to be in trouble. They fell behind 6-0 in the first four minutes before canning a trio of 3-pointers for a 9-8 first-quarter lead.

Sam DeGroot, a 6-foot-5 sophomore reserve, took over in the second quarter 11 points and finished with a career-high 22. He went 7-for-8 from the field, includinjg 4-for-5 from 3-point range, to lead a Lincoln team that also got 11 points from 6-6 senior Garry Crowe, nine from Sam Ericsson, eight from Tate Schafer and seven from Braxton Mohr. The Patriots shot 50 percent (19 of 38) from the field with 12 3s.

Dylon Rawdon's 18 points, six rebounds and nine assists led an Arrow team that shot 42 percent (19 of 45) from the field, but only 26 percent (6-for-23) in the second half. Caden Beauchamp added14 points.

At times it appeared that Watertown was going to be make one of its patented home-court runs in the final period. The Arrows pulled within 39-34 before Crowe banked in a 3 from the top of the key and after a steal, Mohr hit another 3 to stretch the lead. Lincoln made only 10 of 18 free throws down the stretch but held on.

"Their length and athleticism bothered some of our shooters, they just did," McClemans. "Now the other night against Huron, we knocked down some tough shots with people in our face, but tonight we didn't. Lincoln has been a like us, riding the roller coaster. Good, bad, good, bad. And they have a kid coming off the bench to score 22 who has been playing probably 8, 9, 10 minutes per game."

Expect more of the twists and turns for most of the state's Class AA teams in February.

Below are some other highlights for Watertown and Aberdeen Central athletes from the Jan. 25-30. Stories were already done on two home gymnastics meets for Watertown that also included Aberdeen Central.

Watertown girls basketball team halts skid

The Arrows got their first of 2024 by handling Sioux Falls Lincoln 56-36 on Tuesday. The win snapped a seven-game skid dating back to Dec. 22 (2023) for the Arrows, now 3-10 on the season.

Avery Munger produced 13 points and seven rebounds and Emery Thury 10 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Arrows. Jade Lund added nine points and Miranda Falconer eight. Falconer and Addi Johnston each also had three steals.

Lincoln (0-12) got 14 points from Faith Kpeayeh and eight from Kierra Lubovich.

The Arrow girls host Sioux Falls Washington at 7 p.m. on Friday before visiting fourth-rated Sioux Falls Roosevelt on Tuesday.

Aberdeen Central Basketball

Aberdeen Central's boys closed the game with a 19-1 run and topped Tea Area 58-43 at home on Jan. 25. The Golden Eagles trailed 42-39 with 6 1/2 minutes left.

Brendan Phillips tallied 19 points and seven rebounds, Parker Lemer 13 points, Jett Carlson eight points and Grant Fritz seven points and seven reobunds for Aberdeen Central (6-7).

Aberdeen Central's girls (8-4) have been since Jan. 23.

Big tests await both teams, who have upcoming games against Harrisburg and Mitchell. Aberdeen Central's boys host No. 2 Harrisburg on Friday and visit No. 1 Mitchell on Tuesday. Aberdeen Central's girls visit No. 3 Harrisburg on Friday and come home to host No. 2 Mitchell on Tuesday.

Watertown-Aberdeen Central Wrestling

Aberdeen Central (15-2 in duals) beat Watertown 35-28 and Harrisburg 39-22 in aan Eastern South Dakota Conference triangular at Harrisburg on Thursday. The Arrows (9-4) bounced back to beat Harrisburg 39-26.

Both the Golden Eagles, who are fourth, and the Arrows, who are eighth, are in position to qualify for the state Class A dual team tournament on Saturday, Feb. 10 in Brookings.

Aberdeen Central finishes its dual schedule on Thursday by hosting Brookings in an ESD dual at 7 p.m. Watertown visits Huron in another ESD dual the same night. The Arrows are also scheduled to compete Saturday in the Yankton Invite.

Aberdeen Central also placed 19 wrestlers and took second out of 17 teams in its own Lee Wolf Invite on Saturday. Elias Biegler (24-9) won the 165-pound title for the Golden Eagles, who scored 237.5 points compared to champion Canton's 248.5.

Other Golden Eagle placers were Esten Foss (sixth) and Jude Sumner (seventh) at 106; Porter Lozenski, fourth at 120; Rayden Zens, second at 126; Tate Huff, second at 132; Ridley Waldo, fourth at 138; Owen Ward (fourth) and Brody Aesoph (eighth) at 144; Grayden Timm, fourth at 150; Mason Schrempp, second at 157; Noah Kramer, seventh at 165; Ryker Meister (third) and Beau Price (seventh) at 175; Cole Dunlavy, third at 190; Ayden Gisi (sixth) and Samson Flakus (seventh) at 215; and Bryce Beitelspacher (third) and Joran Foss (fourth) at 285.

Watertown placed 10 wrestlers, crowned four champions and finished third with 164.5 points. Gage Lohr (33-0 at 120), Sloan Johannsen (32-1 at 126), Brock Eitreim (20-4 at 190) and Micah Hach (33-1 at 285) each won titles for the Arrows. Johannsen, now 168-2, avenged his only loss of the season by beating Zens 5-3 in the title match.

Other Arrow placers were Chase Mathews, fourth at 106; Max Stroup, eighth at 113; Leo Stroup, sixth at 138; Markus Pitkin, third at 150; Landen Lewis, eighth at 157; and Tucker Urdahl, sixth at 165.

ESD Gymnastics Meet: Harrisburg ends Mitchell's reign as Eastern South Dakota Conference champions

Aberdeen Central 35, Watertown 28126: Sloan Johannsen (WATE) over Adam Moore (ABCE) (Fall 1:00) 132: Tate Huff (ABCE) over Keslar Swenson (WATE) (Fall 3:17) 138: Ridley Waldo (ABCE) over Leo Stroup (WATE) (Fall 6:37) 144: Owen Ward (ABCE) over Cooper Kettwig (WATE) (Dec 4-0) 150: Markus Pitkin (WATE) over Grayden Timm (ABCE) (Dec 7-1) 157: Mason Schrempp (ABCE) over Landen Lewis (WATE) (TF 19-3 4:27) 165: Elias Biegler (ABCE) over Tucker Urdahl (WATE) (Fall 0:37) 175: Ryker Meister (ABCE) over Andrew Stricker (WATE) (Fall 5:06) 190: Brock Eitreim (WATE) over Cole Dunlavy (ABCE) (SV-1 3-1) 215: Ayden Gisi (ABCE) over Ethan Wientjes (WATE) (Dec 4-0) 285: Micah Hach (WATE) over Samson Flakus (ABCE) (Fall 3:13) 106: Chase Mathews (WATE) over Esten Foss (ABCE) (Dec 2-0) 113: Max Stroup (WATE) over Paxton Ewing (ABCE) (Dec 5-4) 120: Gage Lohr (WATE) over Porter Lozenski (ABCE) (MD 16-4)

Watertown 39, Harrisburg 26

132: Tyler Wurth (HARR) over Keslar Swenson (WATE) (Fall 4:23) 138: Leo Stroup (WATE) over Emory Johnson (HARR) (Dec 8-4) 144: Tayge Privett (HARR) over Cooper Kettwig (WATE) (Dec 9-5) 150: Markus Pitkin (WATE) over Lincoln Peters (HARR) (Fall 1:12) 157: Landen Lewis (WATE) over Dylan Johnson (HARR) (UTB 3-2) 165: Logan O`Connor (HARR) over Tucker Urdahl (WATE) (Fall 1:58) 175: Soren Aadland (HARR) over Andrew Stricker (WATE) (TF 16-0 3:04) 190: Brock Eitreim (WATE) over Brody Sonnenschein (HARR) (Fall 2:28) 215: Ethan Wientjes (WATE) over Sam Sutton (HARR) (Dec 7-4) 285: Micah Hach (WATE) over (HARR) (For.) 106: Griffin Felder (HARR) over Chase Mathews (WATE) (Dec 6-0) 113: Tristan Stoeser (HARR) over Max Stroup (WATE) (Dec 4-2) 120: Gage Lohr (WATE) over Myles Kettwig (HARR) (Fall 3:19) 126: Sloan Johannsen (WATE) over Steven Lamont (HARR) (Fall 1:23).

Aberdeen Central 39, Harrisburg 22

120: Myles Kettwig (HARR) over Porter Lozenski (ABCE) (SV-1 7-5) 126: Steven Lamont (HARR) over Adam Moore (ABCE) (Dec 10-4) 132: Tate Huff (ABCE) over Tyler Wurth (HARR) (Dec 5-0) 138: Ridley Waldo (ABCE) over Emory Johnson (HARR) (Fall 4:23) 144: Owen Ward (ABCE) over Tayge Privett (HARR) (Dec 5-1) 150: Grayden Timm (ABCE) over Lincoln Peters (HARR) (Fall 2:47) 157: Mason Schrempp (ABCE) over Dylan Johnson (HARR) (Fall 2:42) 165: Logan O`Connor (HARR) over Elias Biegler (ABCE) (Fall 4:26) 175: Soren Aadland (HARR) over Ryker Meister (ABCE) (MD 12-1) 190: Cole Dunlavy (ABCE) over Brody Sonnenschein (HARR) (Fall 2:40) 215: Ayden Gisi (ABCE) over Sam Sutton (HARR) (Dec 5-1) 285: Bryce Beitelspacher (ABCE) over Rizg Osman (HARR) (Fall 0:54) 106: Griffin Felder (HARR) over Esten Foss (ABCE) (Dec 2-0) 113: Tristan Stoeser (HARR) over Paxton Ewing (ABCE) (Dec 4-3).

Watertown-Aberdeen Central Girls Wrestling

Watertown and Aberdeen Central's girls each split duals in a triangular at Harrisburg and also competed in the Lee Wolf Invitational at Aberdeen.

Pierre won the oturney with 231 points. Aberdeen Central was third at 177 and Watertown fourth at 129.

Jasmine Maas (26-9) captuired the 132-pound title for the Golden Eagles. Katrina Gibson was second at 152, Lin Paw Jone third at 145 and Madyson Gillen (114), Ula Martin (120), Allison Neitzel (126) and Nina Howard (250) each fourth. Lilly Nelson took fifth at 165 and Rakyrah Wallace sixth at 138.

Watertown's nine placers including champions Olivia Anderson (33-1 at 100) and Allison Konrad (29-2 at 185). Eden Hach was second at 250, April Peterson third at 152, Brooklynn Randall fourth at 107, Katelyn Yexley fifth at 138, Vanessa Anderson sixth at 100 and Hayden Thomas (120) and Emma Wientjes (165) each eighth.

Aberdeen Central 39, Watertown 27

100: Olivia Anderson (WATE) over (ABCE) (For.) 107: Brooklynn Randall (WATE) over (ABCE) (For.) 114: Madyson Gillen (ABCE) over Audrey Mack (WATE) (Fall 0:35) 120: Ula Martin (ABCE) over Hayden Thomas (WATE) (Fall 1:31) 126: Allison Neitzel (ABCE) over Josie Althoff (WATE) (Fall 0:11) 132: jasmine Maas (ABCE) over Jeryn Fieber (WATE) (Fall 0:57) 138: Katelyn Yexley (WATE) over Rakyrah Wallace (ABCE) (Dec 11-4) 145: Lin Paw Jone (ABCE) over Nevaeh Schanbeck (WATE) (Fall 3:43) 152: Katrina Gibson (ABCE) over April Peterson (WATE) (Dec 3-2) 165: Lilly Nelson (ABCE) over Emma Wientjes (WATE) (Fall 1:24) 185: Allison Konrad (WATE) over (ABCE) (For.) 250: Eden Hach (WATE) over Nina Howard (ABCE) (Fall 1:10).

Watertown 33, Harrisburg 32

100: Olivia Anderson (WATE) over (HARR) (For.) 107: Brooklynn Randall (WATE) over Benazir Wilson (HARR) (Fall 2:00) 114: Hadley Bryant (HARR) over Audrey Mack (WATE) (Fall 1:10) 120: Hayden Thomas (WATE) over Ragan Peacock (HARR) (Fall 2:38) 126: Regina Stoeser (HARR) over Josie Althoff (WATE) (Fall 2:14) 132: Cameron Talkington (HARR) over Jeryn Fieber (WATE) (TF 16-1 5:36) 138: Katelyn Yexley (WATE) over Teagan Bowers (HARR) (Dec 8-5) 145: Sammie Reil (HARR) over Nevaeh Schanbeck (WATE) (Fall 1:36) 152: Emerson Skuodas (HARR) over April Peterson (WATE) (SV-1 3-1) 165: Rhiannen Heimdal (HARR) over Emma Wientjes (WATE) (Fall 3:14) 185: Allison Konrad (WATE) over (HARR) (For.) 250: Eden Hach (WATE) over (HARR) (For.).

Harrisburg 33, Aberdeen Central 30

100: Double Forfeit 107: Madyson Gillen (ABCE) over Benazir Wilson (HARR) (Fall 0:34) 114: Ragan Peacock (HARR) over (ABCE) (For.) 120: Hadley Bryant (HARR) over Ula Martin (ABCE) (Fall 3:55) 126: Allison Neitzel (ABCE) over Cameron Talkington (HARR) (Fall 1:04) 132: Regina Stoeser (HARR) over Rakyrah Wallace (ABCE) (Fall 1:52) 138: jasmine Maas (ABCE) over Teagan Bowers (HARR) (Fall 1:15) 145: Sammie Reil (HARR) over Lin Paw Jone (ABCE) (Dec 7-3) 152: Emerson Skuodas (HARR) over Grace Reszler (ABCE) (Fall 1:51) 165: Katrina Gibson (ABCE) over Tayla Schiltz (HARR) (Fall 2:56) 185: Rhiannen Heimdal (HARR) over Lilly Nelson (ABCE) (Fall 1:00) 250: Nina Howard (ABCE) over (HARR) (For.).

Watertown Hockey

The Watertown Laker boys had a very successful weekend, going 3-0 and winning the championship in the Ice Wolves Invite at Dodgeville, Wis.

The Lakers (now 10-7 on the season) opened with an 11-1 win over the M&M Thunder. They also topped the Quad City Ice Eagles 9-3 before dowing the host Dodgeville Ice Wolves 4-2 in the championship.

Individual statistics weren't available for Watertown, which returns to South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association play this weekend, visiting Sioux Falls West at 8;15 p.m. on Friday and hosting Huron at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The Laker girls (1-13-1 overall) slipped to 0-11 in SDAHA play with a 6-0 home loss to the Aberdeen Cougars on Friday and a 2-1 loss to Sioux Center, Iowa on Sunday.

Harper Hendricks scored an unassisted goal in Sunday's loss and Angelyn Birnell made 27 saves in net. Kira Reppe had 40 saves in the loss to Aberdeen for the Lakers, who compete Friday through Sunday in a tournament at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

More: A look at some athletic highlights for Watertown and Aberdeen from Jan. 18-23

Aberdeen Hockey

The Cougar girls improved to 8-2 in the SDAHA with the win over Watertown. Addyson Keller and Rachel Siefken each had two goals and an assist for Aberdeen. Kailyn Poppen and Alyssa Roehrich also found the net. Roehrich joined Kaylee Dixon, Alli Stoltenburg, Allison Woehl, Morgan Jones and Raniese Mattke with assists. Chloe Vikander had 13 saves.

Aberdeen's girls host Brookings at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

The Cougar boys (14-8 overall) notched a runner-up finish in the Lee Haugen Tournament at Grand Forks, N.D. Aberdeen beat Estevean, Saskatchewan (Canada) 3-1, Minot, N.D. 3-1 and Northwood 5-0 before falling to Grand Forks 3-1 in the championship.

Jack Podoll scored off an assist from Levi Little in the championship game. Colton Townsend made 69 saves in the four tournament games.

Brady Huff made two goals and Talan Dutenhoeffer one in the tourney opener. Micah Kranzler and Podoll each had two goals and Aiden Posthumus, Cameron Backous, Leyton Kleffman, Huff, Little and Jaxon Danielson one each against Minot. Austin Schmitt and Little each had two assists and Posthumus, Drake Witte, Quincy Madsen, Podoll, Michael Weisenburger and Dutenhoeffer one each.

Devon Fishbach notched two goals and Kleffman, Little and Huff one each against Northwood. Backous added two assists and Schmit and Madsen one apiece.

The Courgar bays play Friday at Mitchell and Saturday and Sunday at Yankton.

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: Watertown, Aberdeen Central high school results from the past week