The Pierre Governors Girls Basketball team will host a SoDak 16 game after a 60-48 win over the Watertown Arrows on Saturday while the boys would fall to Watertown 67-44.
In the first half, the game was ultra competitive as both teams played efficient offensive basketball. The Govs prioritized the 3 Point shot and got massive triples from Emery Larson and Gracelynn Taylor. However, Watertown was none too eager to go away without putting in their own work. They would crash the glass time and time again for offensive rebounds and massive shots inside the posts to remain stride for stride with the Governors. This would continue to the end of the first half as Watertown would maintain a point lead.
After halftime, Pierre’s strategy noticeably changed as they would begin to match Watertown’s style by going underneath the basket more and more. This adjustment from the Governors would pay off in a massive way as they would slowly begin to lock Watertown in a vice grip that they would not be able to get out of. However, they still needed to find the spark to take over the game, and they would do just that with Lennix Dupris in the 4th Quarter.
Durpis took the game over with a masterful blend of deep shots and drives to the basket. Dupris would end up with 25 points. Between that and her performance against Roosevelt, she managed to put up 53 points in less than 24 hours total. Her persistent performance and great defensive play from her teammates would be enough to put Watertown and clinch a win in the final game of the regular season.
In the boys game, the Governors would struggle to score in the second quarter as the game went from a two point game up to a 15 point lead for the Arrows outscoring Pierre 19-6. Carter Buisker had a game high 17 points off the bench for Watertown while Jackson McClemans had 14 and Kaden Decker finished with 11 but even with the win the Arrows couldn’t get into the SoDak 16. Dawson Getz had 16 and Luke Olson had 15 as Pierre finishes the regular season at 6-14.
The Governors will play in the SoDak 16 on Friday for the girls and Saturday for the boys. Both games will be on KCCR and on YouTube at KCCR Sports with Dylan Simmons on the call.
