Joie Spier is the Register Player of the Year after capping an incredible career with a standout senior season.
She led Oldham-Ramona/Rutland (13-10) to the District 7B title.
The Raiders won five of their last six regular-season games and then opened the postseason with a 46-37 road win over Colman-Egan in the semifinals Feb. 23.
ORR toppled Chester Area 73-66 in double overtime in the district final on Feb. 24 in Dell Rapids.
The Raiders fell 68-29 to Ethan in the Region 4B matchup on March 2. The Rustlers went on to take third at the state tournament, falling to eventual champion Sully Buttes in the semifinals.
Spier was a three-time All-Register selection.
The eight-member All-Register team is relatively young with three seniors, four juniors and a sophomore.
Brookings and Elkton-Lake Benton both had a pair of honorees.
Bobcat senior Baylee Tetzlaff is on the squad for a second consecutive year and is joined by sophomore Michaela Jewett.
Brookings finished the season with an 8-14 record, including an 8-8 mark in Eastern South Dakota Conference games. The Bobcats went 0-2 in the District 1AA tourney.
Senior Rachel Hegerfeld and junior Callie Otkin are on the roster for the Lady Elks.
ELB (13-8) went 6-2 in the Dakota Valley Conference to place third in the regular-season standings. The Lady Elks won the DVC Tournament, dropping Deubrook Area 52-43 in the title game.
ELB fell in the semifinals in District 7B.
A trio of juniors round out the All-Register team – Deubrook Area’s Cortney Bauman, Sioux Valley’s Carly Granum and Flandreau’s Kathy Parsley.
The Dolphins (16-5) placed second in the DVC regular-season race with a 7-1 mark and were also runners-up in the tourney. They dropped a District 5B semifinal contest.
The Cossacks (8-14) earned a bye in Region 2A and then beat Clark/Willow Lake 50-37 in the semifinals on Feb. 23. As the No. 15 seed, Sioux Valley fell 64-51 to second-seeded and undefeated Hamlin in a Sweet 16 game on March 3 in Castlewood that was tied in the fourth quarter.
The Fliers (12-9) opened the Region 3A tourney with a 75-39 first-round win but lost to Madison in the semifinals.
No nominations were received from Arlington or Lake Preston.
Cortney Bauman
Deubrook Area
5-8, Jr.
The junior was the Dolphins’ primary offensive weapon.
Bauman averaged 16.8 points per game to go with 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals.
“Cortney is irreplaceable to the Dolphins girls’ basketball team,” said coach John Rassmussen. “Her unique blend of intelligence, skill, toughness and athleticism gives her the ability to be incredibly successful on the court; and how she played this season proves it.
“Cortney will be a tought matchup for anyone next year!”
Bauman was a first-team All-Dakota Valley Conference selection.
Carly Granum
Sioux Valley
5-6, Jr.
Granum broke the Cossack single-season school record for 3-pointers with 94 in 22 games – an average of 4.3 per contest.
She also tied the school-record for treys in a game, hitting 10 during a 71-49 defeat of Baltic on Dec. 15. In that game, Granum made six shots from downtown in the first quarter and had nine at the half.
“In my opinion, she is one of the best shooters in the state,” said coach Leah Hope. “With nine seniors graduating last year, Carly was asked to take a bigger scoring role this year and she responded well, especially when she was face-guarded or double teamed almost every game.
“Carly is a very dedicated player who has put in hundreds of hours to become the excellent shooter she is. Being the great player she is, she is very humble and a good teammate, as well.”
Granum averaged 17.5 points per game, shooting 37 percent from long range and 81 percent at the free-throw line.
She was honored on the All-Big East Conference first team and the All-Lake Central Conference team.
Rachel Hegerfeld
Elkton-Lake Benton
6-0, Sr.
Hegerfeld was a force on both ends of the floor.
In addition to averaging a double-double of 14.2 points and 10.4 rebounds, she added 2.4 blocks, 1.4 steals and 1.1 assists per contest.
“Without Rachel on the floor, the Lady Elks would not have won as many games as they did,” said coach Alex Robey. “Both on and off the court, she was a team leader for the Lady Elks for the last three years and will be missed greatly.
“She ended her senior year and career with perhaps her best season, averaging a double-double and helping the Lady Elks reach a 13-7 regular-season record.”
Hegerfeld finished in the top-10 on ELB’s career scoring list in addition to ending up third on the career rebounding chart.
She made the All-DVC first team.
Michaela Jewett
Brookings
6-0, So.
Jewett emerged as a big-time scoring threat at the Class AA level.
She opened the season by posting a double-double of 33 points and 10 boards at Pierre.
Jewett ended up averaging 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
“She was a difficult matchup for our opponents because of her ability to score and rebound from multiple positions,” said coach Lynn Frederick. “Michaela’s basketball IQ and passion for the game were tremendous assets for our basketball team.”
Jewett was an All-Eastern South Dakota Conoference honoree.
Callie Otkin
Elkton-Lake Benton
5-4, Jr.
The junior continued to excel on the offensive end, leading the Lady Elks in scoring for the second consecutive season with 18.1 points per game.
“She has already established herself as one of the all-time Lady Elks offensive weapons and she is second on the career scoring list with 982 points,” said Robey. “She is also first on the list in career 3-pointers made.
“She looks to continue this tradition into next year and lead the Lady Elks further in the postseason.”
Otkin added three rebounds and 1.6 steals per contest as she was named to the All-DVC first team.
Kathy Parsley
Flandreau
5-8, Jr.
Parsley was a catalyst for the Fliers’ swarming defense and also had a solid year on the offensive end.
She averaged 11.4 points while shooting 44 percent from the field.
Parsley also contributed 4.9 rebounds, three assists and 2.3 steals per game.
“Kathy was an instrumental part of our team this season,” said coach Megan Severtson. “The team relied on Kathy to be its primary ball-handler and defensive stopper. She was also a consistent leader in points per game and assists per game despite playing through a significant shoulder injury.
“Kathy has an incredible work ethic and spent hours during the offseason improving her game. As a coach, I look forward to seeing what she will do in her senior season.”
Parsley made the All-BEC first team and the All-LCC squad.
Joie Spier
Oldham-Ramona/Rutland
5-11, Sr.
The Register Player of the Year was also the MVP of the Dakota Valley Conference.
She is a three-time All-Register and All-DVC first-team honoree.
Spier holds every scoring and rebounding record in ORR history, and led the Raiders to the District 7B title during her senior season.
For more on Spier, see Page 12.
Baylee Tetzlaff
Brookings
5-10, Sr.
Tetzlaff is on the All-Register team for a second consecutive season.
She averaged 11 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, while adding 1.4 steals and 1.3 assists.
“Baylee was very good on both ends of the floor for the Bobcats,” said Frederick. “She is a tenacious competitor and tireless worker.
“Her leadership and positive growth mindset played an important role for our young basketball team.”
Tetzlaff was a two-time honoree on the All-ESD team.
