Edmunds County Tribune -

Faulkton Area has made history by qualifying its first-ever girls or boys basketball team to the State B. The Trojan girls will indeed carry a 20-3 record into this year's State B in Spearfish after winning a pair of Region 2B outings followed by a 56-47 conquest of Newell in a SoDak 16 showdown last Thursday in Ft. Pierre. The Trojans will be the number-3 seed and will take on the number-6 De Smet Bulldogs (19-4) on Thursday beginning at 7:45 p.m. Mountain Time.

Faulkton will also be representing the Lake Region Conference. That prestigious conference also featured Langford Area in a SoDak 16 appearance vs. Irene-Wakonda, but the latter team upended the Lions 53-38 last Thursday in Huron to earn their ticket to the State B. By the way, that team is the number-8 seed in this year's B and thus has the unenviable challenge of taking on top-seeded and unbeaten Corsica-Stickney at noon MT in the tourney opener Thursday. That game will be followed by number-4 Faith vs. number-5 Howard and this bracket will usually be closely contested. Meanwhile, the opening game in the evening bracket of this year's girls' B at 6 p.m. MT will pit number 2 Ethan against the seventh-seeded Castlewood contingent.

Obviously everybody including Faulkton Area will be hoping to do well in this year's tourney, even though there is an undefeated team in the running. Faulkton has a number of athletic players from its State B volleyball appearance earlier in the school year, so they should understand pressure under stress.

Last but maybe not least, whatever happened to the other Region 2B girls' bracket champion Highmore-Harrold? Well, as you might possibly guess, the Pirates lost their SoDak 16 bid to that overall number -one seed Corsica-Stickney by a rather lop-sided 76-37 margin last Thursday in Mitchell ending their opportunity to become the Cinderella team at this year's B.