SPEARFISH — The Sioux Valley girls’ basketball team won its final two games of the Class A State Tournament over the weekend and were the consolation champions.

After losing their first game of the tournament to Dakota Valley on Thursday, the Cossacks bounced back with wins over Wagner and Mobridge-Pollock.

“Overall, we were playing our best basketball of the season,” said Sioux Valley head coach Jamie Granum. “As far as how we bounced back, our mindset was that we wanted to leave with a trophy and not a plaque. Not many teams can say they won their last two games of the year.”

Friday

Sioux Valley 56, Wagner 46

The Cossacks had a strong second quarter and then hung on to the lead the rest of the way.

Sioux Valley led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter. The Cossacks then outscored the Red Raiders 13-7 in the second quarter and took a 28-20 lead into halftime. Sioux Valley had a 14-12 advantage in the third to push the lead to double digits and then each team scored 14 in the final quarter.

The Cossacks shot 39.6% from the field and were 8-of-27 from three. Keyra Kruse had 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead Sioux Valley. Amari Ward had 12 points and Talya Vincent had 11 points.

The Red Raiders shot 43.2% from the field and were 5-of-16 from beyond the arc. Wagner was led by Ashlyn Koupal who had 24 points, five assists and four rebounds. The Wagner junior is the 13th-ranked player in the country for the class of 2026 and Granum said he knew the game plan needed to be surrounded around her.

“That was a unique matchup because we were playing a top-15 player in the country in her class with Ashlyn Koupal. One of the things that I talked about with our team was, the defensive game plan is so simple, but it’s so hard because we have to guard the best player in South Dakota. We handled that well. We put multiple bodies on her. … We did a nice job defensively with surrounding her with multiple players and making some others beat us,” Granum said.

Sioux Valley won the rebound battle 36-21. The Cossacks had 13 turnovers and the Red Raiders had 14. Sioux Valley was 10-of-15 at the free throw line and Wagner was 9-of-20.

Saturday

Sioux Valley 74, Mobridge-Pollock 59

The Cossacks got in a hole early but then took control half way through the first quarter and didn’t look back.

Sioux Valley trailed 7-0 45 seconds into the game. The Cossacks were then down 13-7 near the midway point of the opening quarter and then went on a 10-0 run to go up four with three minutes left in the quarter. Sioux Valley then led 20-17 at the end of the quarter.

It was a low-scoring second quarter as the Cossacks had an 11-7 advantage in the second and led 31-24 at halftime. Mobridge-Pollock cut the lead to 31-30 a minute into the second half. The Cossacks answered with an 8-0 run and then led 53-42 at the end of the third. Sioux Valley then outscored Mobridge-Pollock 21-17 in the final quarter.

“The first two or three minutes did not look pretty, but once we got going, we started to move the ball at a fast pace and scored 70-plus points,” Granum said. “… We are a hard team to guard and we had our best offensive performance against Mobridge.”

The Cossacks shot 50.9% from the field and were 11-of-28 from three. They were led by Kailey Cradduck who had 21 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Vincent had 17 points and Liberty Trygstad had 16 points and six rebounds. Kruse had 11 points and 16 rebounds.

Both Kruse and Cradduck were named to the All Tournament Team. Granum said it was nice to see Kruse finish her career strong and have Cradduck continue to play well.

“Keyra Kruse had a double-double in all three games and went out as a senior with her best three games in-a-row and most importantly played 30-plus minutes in all three games. And then Kailey Cradduck all year long has just been consistent and this weekend was no different,” Granum said.

The Tigers shot 37.1% from the field and were 5-of-9 from three. Mobridge-Pollock was led by Blake Thompson who had 20 points.

Sioux Valley had a 47-29 advantage in rebounds. The Cossacks had 19 turnovers and the Tigers had 12. Sioux Valley was 5-of-10 at the free throw line and Mobridge-Pollock was 5-of-11.

The Cossacks finished the season with a record of 19-5. It was their first State Tournament appearance since 2014 and Granum said the success they had this season should give them momentum going into next year.

“It amazed me when we were out there, you see these people without a daughter, without a granddaughter or a cousin, just people from Volga, Bruce or Sinai that are spending $1,000 and taking two days off [of work] to support these kids. We saw a lot of young girls out there and they wanted pictures with Keyra Kruse, Kailey Cradduck and Talya Vincent. You always hope that this gives the young kids the idea that hey, I want to get good. It’s all about the players and talent wins. So, I hope it’s a big momentum shift for the program,” Granum said.