Girls grab fifth place at Lakota Nation

The Custer High School girls basketball team got its season off to a strong start at last week’s Lakota Nation Invitational in Rapid City, as the team won three games and lost one on the way to claiming fifth place in the tournament.
“We did some good things. We are still figuring out some new plays and offenses,” head coach Tobey Cass said of his team’s opening four games. “We have good hustle, good speed, size and shooting. Those are positives that will help us as we go.”
The Wildcats opened the tournament by breezing past Pine Ridge 65-21, despite what Cass said was a slow start.
“They worked really well together. It was a good first game for all of them,” he said. “They worked out some of the rust for the first game of the year. They put it together pretty darn well.”
The Wildcats had 32 points off 31 Thorpe turnovers, dominated the glass 45-25 and had 18 assists and 22 steals.
Ally Cass scored 25 points and had eight steals in the game, while Alice Sedlacek had a double-double with 11 points and a team-high 14 rebounds.
The Wildcats’ second game was its only loss of the tournament, as the team fell to White River by two points, 46-44.
It was a tough night shooting for the Wildcats, as they made only 22 percent of their shots, and went 16-28 from the free throw line.
Down two with little time remaining and no time outs left, the girls brought the ball down the court, got some penetration and got the ball to Bailey Cass, who Coach Cass said took a good shot but couldn’t get it to fall.
“It was right there,” he said. “We had a couple of chances to win. It just didn’t go down.”
Cass said despite the loss, the game was a positive experience for the Wildcats, as it showed them how they want to play—fast—and how they don’t want to play—slow.
“We let them dictate the pace. It’s one we definitely would like to get back,” he said.
Three Wildcats were in double figures in the game, as Sedlacek had 11 points, as did Ally Cass. Bailey Cass added 10 points and pulled down 12 rebounds.
A loss on Thursday meant an 8 a.m. game Friday morning, but the girls didn’t hit the snooze button and defeated Wall 55-43 behind 22 points from Ally Cass.
“It was back and forth the whole game,” Coach Cass said. “They are a good team. They are going to be tough all year.”
The Wildcats hit seven three pointers in the game, helping the team achieve its goal of not losing two games in a row.
“I didn’t know if there would be a let down (after the White River loss and morning game) but they definitely brought it,” Cass said.
Sedlacek had 11 points of her own in the game, while Ramsey Karim had 10 points on a tidy four of five shooting, including a pair of three-pointers.
The Wildcats’ final game of the tournament Saturday pitted them against the Dupree Tigers, with the Wildcats coming away with a 52-47 win, which secured a  fifth place finish.
The Wildcats roared out to a 10-point lead at the outset of the game on the back of three Ally Cass three-pointers, who once again led the team in points with 23.
Dupree battled back, however, and scored the next 10 points to knot up the score at 13. The Tigers took the lead moments later, and the team’s exchanged leads for the remainder of the first half. A JoJo Larsen  basket off a pass from Maya Tennyson tied the score once more at 25-25, which was the score at halftime.
Custer took control of the game at the outset of the second half, and took a 33-25 lead after a Ramsey Karim three-pointer.
The Wildcats built a double-digit lead at 41-33 with 6:28 remaining in the game on a pair of Ally Cass free throws and continued to stave off  Dupree comeback with a Sedlacek three-pointer and a Cass reverse layup.
Larsen and Cass, who was named all -tournament, put the finishing touches on the game with a basket off a Karim miss for the former and a short jumper for the latter.
“I was proud of the girls. They have been doing a pretty good job battling illness,” Coach Cass said of the team, several members of which are battling respiratory illness. “Trying to play when you can’t breath is difficult.”
The Wildcats are now idle until Dec. 29-30, when they head south to Chadron, Neb., for the Chadron Rotary Club Holiday Classic, where they will battle Valentine, Neb., in the first game. The winner of that game will face the winner of Hemingford and Chadron, Neb.
Cass said he didn’t know much about the teams yet, but knows some of them have some size that could make it tough on the ’Cats.
“We are going to have to step up and play bigger than some of our kids are,” he said