SPEARFISH, S.D. -- It was tied at halftime. It was tied at the end of the third quarter.
But a strong fourth quarter separated the No. 2-seeded Dakota Valley Panthers form the No. 7-seeded Sioux Valley Cossacks to the tune of a 65-57 Class A SDHSAA state tournament quarterfinal victory at the Donald E. Young Center on the campus of Black Hills State University in Spearfish on Thursday.
Dakota Valley (22-2) outpaced Sioux Valley in the final frame by a 17-9 margin to advance to the state semifinals, where the Panthers will take on the winner on No. 3 Mahpíya Lúta (26-0) in the state semifinals. That game is slated for a 7:45 Mountain Time (8:45 CST) tip-off.
For much of the first three quarters, every possession seemed to produce a tie or lead change. Until things swung late in the proceedings as Sioux Valley's last lead came with just under a minute and a half to play in the third.
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Freshman Ella Otten led Dakota Valley with 17 points. Freshman Katie Betsworth went for 15 points on 5 of 11 shooting, including 11 first-half points off the DV bench.
The Panthers offense was supplemented by 11 points from freshman Aubree Worden and 10 points from senior Emersen Mead. Senior Wayne State commit Cameryn Sommervold chipped in eight points had a team-high nine rebounds as she combined with Worden and Mead for over half (24) of DV's 42 rebounds.
Mead entered the game with only three 3-point attempts all season -- all misses -- but went 2-of-3 for the game from beyond the arc.
Sioux Valley (19-5) went nearly the first half of the final period without points as the Cossacks' first score came on a steal and layup by Amari Ward to make it 55-50 DV.
Keyra Kruse led the Cossacks with 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field. Amari Ward and Kailey Cradduck each had 14.
Both teams shot 6-of-19 from 3-point range, but DV made a difference by making one more field goal (24-23) on two more total attempts (57 to 55). The Panthers also went 11-of-14 from the free throw line compared to Sioux Valley's 5-of-10 effort and had 11 more rebounds for the game.
With 13 offensive rebounds, DV converted 21 second-chance points to Sioux Valley's nine.
Dakota Valley also took the first meeting between the sides. That came on Feb. 4, and also ended in an eight-point Panther win (73-65).
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