Edmunds County Tribune -

Ipswich dropped a close 54-47 Region 2B decision to Lower Brule in girls' high school basketball action in the Tiger Den here last Tuesday.

The 2B defeat capped Ipswich's season record at 13-8 and ended the careers of 10 seniors, alphabetically Hailey Bierman, Halie Feldman, Kate Geditz, Lindsey Grabowska, Halle Heinz, Tarynn Kleffman, Ashton Loken, Paige Mehlberg, Chesney Olivier and Bailey Pitz.

The NSU-bound Heinz would finish the evening (and career in Ipswich) with a game-high 29 points that featured a pair of treys and 21 of her points occurred in the first half to help keep things close.

Close would indeed be an accurate description of this encounter with four ties and four lead changes. And the flow of the game seemed to favor the visitors with a strong first quarter and a strong final stanza, while Ipswich would do a lot of its scoring damage in the middle quarters.

Ipswich was indeed able to manufacture a 10-point lead (it's biggest of the night), 28-18 after a Pitz trey. But the Sioux demonstrated their ability to hang around by scoring the last two baskets of the half to shave that deficit to six points, 28-22, at intermission. (They had been left with a 13-10 opening-quarter lead after an earlier 13-4 advantage, as the Tigers would score the final six points of that stanza, all by who else but Heinz on a traditional three-point play and trey. And she then opened the second stanza with six more points plus a Chesney Olivier basket to temporarily give Ipswich an 18-13 edge at that juncture of the opening quarter.

Ipswich would later lead 36-35 thanks to a Katie Bierman buzzer-beater with a quarter to play. It set the stage for the final quarter. And the Sioux would capture that eight-minute span 19-11. Free throws and some timely baskets quite often come in handy during the final quarter of a close game and this would be true last Tuesday. But ironically a pair of Heinz free throws to open the final quarter had briefly given Ipswich a 38-35 lead. But the Sioux would go on a 10-point run that included four free throws in as many tries for a 45-38 lead, which would stand up down the stretch.

Next in scoring for the Tiger girls that night were Pitz and Katie Bierman with five points apiece and they each featured a trey. Hailey Bierman added four points followed by Halie Feldman and Chesney Olivier with two points each.

The visiting team was led by Courtney Traversie's inside presence with 16 points, followed by Maddison Wells with 12 points and Kharmon Wells almost in double-figures with nine points. Three more Sioux players got into their scorebook.

Ipswich finished with 16 accurate floor shots that included those four treys and went 11-13 at the free throw line, one of the bright spots that evening. The Sioux responded with 19 baskets also with four treys and went 12-25 in free throw tries.

Ipswich was only out-rebounded 38-37 utilizing a team effort and sustained 16 turnovers but with seven steals, led by Heinz with four thefts. The visitors would commit a total of 14 turnovers. Their win advanced them to a 2B bracket championship showdown at Herreid/Selby Area two nights later.

Herreid/Selby Area and Faulkton Area were the two SoDak 16 teams from our Region.

Ipswich will be hosting a SoDak 16 game. Class A teams #4 Aberdeen Roncalli and #13 Redfield will invade the Tiger Den at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 4.