The veteran Sully Buttes Charger girls team rolled to victory Tuesday night in Onida by the score of 56-19 over Ipswich in new head coach Susie Rillings’ season opener.
The Chargers played relentless defense and the short-handed Tigers didn’t have the depth or experience to overcome it. The Charger girls forced 29 turnovers on the Tigers, while committing 13 themselves. Both teams had trouble finding rhythm offensively in their initial game of the 22-23 girls basketball season, but Sully Buttes brings back nearly every starter from last year and have new found added height and depth on their bench.
Leading the way in scoring for the 1-0 Chargers was junior Stevie Wittler, who controlled the pace both offensively and defensively, and hit for 19 points while cousin Allyson Wittler finished with 13 points. In all, three Charger girls scored in double figures, with Lydia Hill adding 11.
Ipswich was led by Gabby Wald, who finished with 11 points for the 0-1 Tigers. Ipswich will now face Hitchcock-Tulare Saturday at home, and have six games before the holiday break.
The Chargers will have a couple of road trips as they travel to Bowdle Friday night to take on the North Central Thunder and next Tuesday at Presho against Lyman County in a girls-boys doubleheader.
Tuesday night’s game was also Parents Night, and the first time in 17 years the Chargers had someone other than the late Mark Senftner as the head coach. Rilling had stepped up in the previous few seasons when Senftner wasn’t able to attend, and was the JV coach the past nine years. Rilling–a former standout player at Sully Buttes-won state titles coaching in Alaska before coming back to Onida to teach and coach.
