12 Broadcaster Press February 24, 2015 www.broadcasteronline.com Vermillion High School Tanagers (left-right) Rachel Finnegan, Tori Gregoire, Hailey Freidel, and Sydney Peters wrapped up their final home game in Red and White Tuesday night with a thrilling 57-54 overtime victory over Wagner. The Tanagers continue their season on Tuesday night when the Region 4 playoffs begin. At press time, Vermillion was expected to Lennox for a 7 p.m. tipoff. Check www.plaintalk.net for official confirmation on who the girls will play. THOMAS HATZENBUHLER / FOR THE PLAIN TALK Quite a Senior Moment TANAGERS RALLY TO DEFEAT WAGNER 57-54 IN OVERTIME THRILLER By Alan Dale The Plain Talk Senioritis? In the case of the Vermillion Tanager girls’ basketball team it’s more of a case of: Senior-I? Tistis. Playing their final home game wearing the home red and white on Tuesday night, Vermillion High seniors Tori Gregoire, Sydney Peters, Hailey Freidel, and Rachel Finnegan said goodbye to their friendly confines by ending the regular season with a hello to a familiar scenario: A close, nail-biter as the clock ticked down. Almost three months since dropping their home opener in overtime, the Tanagers rallied to defeat a top-notch Wagner Red Raiders squad 57-54 in overtime, to usher out one era and begin a new one next week called the Region 4 playoffs. “We want to be play well this time of the year even if we necessarily didn’t’ want to wait until the last regular season game of the year to get a huge win like this,” Tanager head coach Jon Brooks said. “If we had lost another heartbreaker like this, I don’t know how much confidence our girls would have had going into the Region tournament, because we have had so many tough ones. To have a really good win against a really good team like that…it’s huge.” To win the contest, Vermillion (7-13) rode the offensive display of freshmen Haleigh Melstad’s 25 points and Kasey Jensen’s 13 crucial points that came at big moments. “We stress being good teammates and we’ve had some talks where we say we have to respect each other,” Gregoire said. “We had a rough patch in the middle of the season, but we figured it out and it’s paid off.” Next the Tanagers await their Region 4 tournament opening matchup. They are set to play on the road next Tuesday at a press time were to play at Lennox starting at 7 p.m. Check www.plaintalk.net this week to get an update when the playoffs are set. “We’ve been playing some good basketball lately, but you win a game by three instead of lose a game by three and you think you did everything right, but we made some mistakes here,” Brooks said. “The difference tonight was execution. We had 11 turnovers at halftime and in the second half we only had five. We had balanced scoring…it was an all-around team effort.” The Tanagers came out strong and led Wagner 1312 after the first eight minutes. The Red Raiders were kept in the game by the strong hand of Ali Kuca who scored nine of Wagner's first quarter points. Vermillion continued to play some of its most impressive ball of the season as they took a 23-15 lead midway through the second quarter. Seven different Tanagers scored during the run of play to establish the lead. Wagner then got a bit more serious and fought back with a 12-0 run to suddenly have a 27-23 edge with 90 seconds remaining before halftime. The Red Raiders took a 29-25 lead into the break. Melstad banged home two triples in the third quarter's first four minutes and the Tanager defense tightened up to force a 35all tie with 3:05 left in the period. Wagner held a 40-38 lead heading into the final quarter. Melstad and classmate Kasey Jensen speared a 7-3 run to start the fourth and the Tanagers led 45-42 with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Seesaw time commenced at the Tanager House and the Red Raiders went up 47-45 just 90 seconds later, taking the lead on a Kuca lay-in. A defensive stand gave the hosts a chance to square things, but Wagner protected the rim and escaped the possession with its lead intact. Down 48-45 Vermillion got even on another Melstad 3-bomb with 52 seconds to go and another stop on defense gave them a chance to take the lead. Brooks called time with 23.1 left with hopes of setting up the game winner, The Tanagers worked the clock down and got the shot they wanted but just came up short and a late Wagner attempt failed and the girls were heading to an extra four minutes of battle. A Kuca triple and a Jensen jumper were the only scoring in the first half of overtime and Wagner led 51-50. A Melstad free throw and then two more by Jensen gave Vermillion a 53-51 lead with 1:32 to go. Brooke Roth's hoop and harm seconds later put Wagner back in front 5453 for a blink, before Twila Sweeney's bank shot put Vermillion back up 55-54 with a minute remaining. The Tanager defense kept Wagner from regaining the advantage and Melstad's two free tosses with 20 seconds remaining made it 57-54. Vermillion plundered the Red Raider's next offensive possession and they would hold on for a key win for important momentum heading into the postseason. “This will give us good momentum heading into Regions and it feels so good to get that win,” Gregoire said. “We really played really good together tonight. Senior night gave us a lot of extra energy and got us going. It was now or never and we all played our hardest. “We just have to remember how good it feels to win and how it stinks to lose. If we play like this we can bring another win on Tuesday.” Peters, Finnegan, Gregoire, and Freidel combined for seven total points, but their contributions to the team are immeasurable and ask Melstad and she will tell you the older girls’ selflessness made her freshman season that much easier than it might have been. “With our seniors you are going to look in the scorebook and you will see they aren’t blowing the stat sheet up,” Brooks said. “They do so many other things for us. Tori handled pressure for us all night and had only one turnover. Sydney is in the middle zone because she can shoot the ball and passes the ball well out of there. Hailey and Rachel they come in and they are going to play defense and they are going to get rebounds. They do the glue things that keep a team together.” Freidel, the girl who is willing to do the dirty work most would crawl away from, summed up what a win like this means. “We’ve lost each game in the beginning of the Spirit Mound Township season by two, or three, and it was super close and tonight it was finally in our favor,” Freidel said. “It was awesome to get this win on Senior Night. I looked at Tori in the locker room and I just wanted to cry and want this to continue into Regions. “We just need to continue focusing on being a team and playing together.” Vermillion girls def. Wagner 57-54, OT. Wagner 12 17 11 8 6 - 54 VHS 13 12 13 10 9 - 57 WAGNER (13-6) Emily Brusing 9, Ali Kuca 21, Janessa Picotte Turner 2, Kristin Soukup 8, Brooke Roth 9, Bethany Sully 4, Hailey Hilzendeger 1. VERMILLION (7-13) Twila Sweeney 6, Maddie Regnerus 2, Sydney Peters 6, Rachel Finnegan 1, Haleigh Melstad 25, Autumn Barnett 2, Kasey Jensen 13, Kyleigh Melstad 2, Tori Gregoire 0, Hailey Freidel 0. Tell them you saw it in the Broadcaster! Romsdahl’s Repair & Remodel Carpentry, Interior & Exterior, Painting, Re?nishing, Drywall, & Ceramic Tile Free Estimates 605-670-2161 Notice of Annual Meeting Bethel Township will hold its annual meeting at 2:00 PM, Tuesday, March 3, 2015 at the Wakonda Legion Hall, Wakonda, SD. Annual Meeting Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015 • 1:30 p.m. Clay County Extension Office 515 High St. • Vermillion Curt Brodsky, Clerk March 10 at 2:00 PM. Darby Ganschow, Clerk