VOLGA – Alayna Benike scored 24 points as Castlewood dropped Sioux Valley 60-27 in a Lake Central Conference girls’ basketball game Tuesday.

The 5-foot-11 sophomore added nine assists, eight rebounds and three steals.

The Warriors raced out to a 17-2 lead after a quarter. They were up 31-11 at halftime and 53-21 at the end of three.

Cala Hunter posted a double-double of 12 points and 11 boards. Mackenzie Everson added nine points, Maddie Horn eight and Julie Fischer six.

“We got off to another tough start,” said Cossack coach Jamie Granum. “We’re struggling right now shooting the basketball, and it’s kind of been a theme all year. It’s more of an offseason fix for us. We’ve tried kind of zeroing in the defensive side; we’re averaging about 30 points a game (on offense). Offensively, it’s just been a struggle for us and we hope that an offseason from now or a year from now we’re going to be able to score the basketball.

“There is nothing more frustrating when you just can’t score. I’ve been on the other side of it too, where that other team couldn’t score against us and you see the frustration from coaches to players to parents to fans. We’re in a tough spot now, but staying positive that we’re going to turn it around.”

Sioux Valley’s Reagan Johnson finished with eight points on 4-of-7 shooting to go with four boards.

Perri Liedtke contributed six points and four rebounds. Abbie Schneider hit a 3-pointer, grabbed eight boards and dished out seven dimes.

Castlewood (8-7, 2-4) takes on Estelline/Hendricks on Thursday in Estelline and then wraps up the regular season playing host to Colman-Egan on Friday.

Sioux Valley (4-14, 0-6) also has a pair of regular-season games remaining, traveling to Garretson on Thursday and playing host to Flandreau Indian School on Tuesday.

CASTLEWOOD 60, SIOUX VALLEY 27

Castlewood (8-7, 2-4 LCC)

Julie Fischer 3-5 0-0 6, Lauren Gaabur 0-3 0-0 0, Alayna Benike 9-21 3-4 24, Cala Hunter 6-13 0-0 12, Sierra Schofield 0-3 1-2 1, Maddie Horn 3-7 1-1 8, Mackenzie Everson 3-9 1-2 9, Dalayne Gerberding 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-62 6-9 60.

Sioux Valley (4-14, 0-6 LCC)

Perri Liedtke 2-7 2-3 6, Ellie Schmidt 1-6 0-0 3, Julia Schneider 0-2 0-0 0, Reagan Johnson 4-7 0-3 8, Abbie Schneider 1-11 0-0 3, Ashley Bjerke 0-7 0-0 0, Taylor Jung 0-0 0-0 0, Audrey Fields 2-2 0-0 4, Laryn Stevens 0-3 3-4 3. Totals 10-45 5-10 27.

Castlewood  17  14  22  7  –  60

Sioux Valley   2    9  10  6  –  27

3-point goals – C 6-22 (Gaabur 0-2, Benike 3-8, Hunter 0-1, Schofield 0-1, Horn 1-5, Everson 2-5); SV 2-19 (Schmidt 1-5, J. Schneider 0-1, Johnson 0-1, A. Schneider 1-7, Bjerke 0-4, Stevens 0-1). Rebounds – C 41 (Hunter 11); SV 25 (A. Schneider 8). Assists – C 24 (Benike 9); SV 10 (A. Schneider 7). Blocks – SV 1 (A. Schneider). Turnovers – C 13; SV 23. Total fouls – C 11; SV 13. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.