Rangers steal victory from ’Cats at the buzzer

It may not have been a Cinderella story, but it was certainly a fairytale ending. 

The Hill City Rangers girls basketball team battled the Custer Wildcats in their first Class A, Region 8 playoff game held Tuesday night in Custer. 

The Wildcats had defeated the Rangers just four days earlier at the Rangers own Gins gym and both teams had a lot on the line going into Tuesday night’s matchup. The outcome would advance the winning team to the second round of playoffs and end the season for the other.  

“Coming off a loss to them the week before, the girls knew they had to play hard going into this region game,” said head coach Anna Eckert. 

The beginning of the game was a back-and-forth battle with both teams going shot for shot. With two minutes left in the first quarter Custer exploded offensively and went on an unanswered seven point run to bring the Wildcats ahead 12-5 to end the first and extending the lead by 10 early in the second quarter.

Daril Frandsen broke the Rangers dry spell with a fouled drive to the basket and three-point play. Lillie Ham drove left for a layup and hit a three-point shot to bring the Rangers within seven at 13-20 at the half. 

Custer held the Rangers at bay throughout the course of the third quarter, but the Rangers cut the lead to just two coming off a jump ball with Naiya Ginsbach laying one in at the buzzer. 

Hill City continued to attack Custer in the paint, relying heavily on freshman Lillie Ham.

“Lillie propelled us through the game, finishing at the rim numerous times,” said Eckert.

The Rangers pulled ahead at around the six minute mark of the fourth quarter when Daril Frandsen hit a jump shot followed by a three-pointer putting the Rangers up by four. 

“Daril Frandsen and Naiya Ginsbach hit a few much-needed shots early in the fourth to put us up by four with five minutes to go,” said Eckert.

With both teams in bonus Custer went 2-2 from the free throw line to once again tie up the game 45-45 with 1:31 left to play. Ginsbach was fouled at the post with .48 seconds left and sunk both shots to put the Rangers up by two. Custer was fouled on a made basket and went 1-1 from the line to retake the lead by one with just 21.7 seconds left on the clock.

“The girls stayed hungry and composed at the end of the game. We got the ball down by one with 21 seconds left to play. There were a lot of little things in that 21 seconds that helped the girls come out with the win,” Eckert said.

With a Ranger possession, Maycie Ham made a drive to the basket with 10 seconds left and attempted a reverse layup that missed and Custer came out with the rebound. The Wildcats attempted to outlet the ball but Dean intercepted the pass and made a drive to the basket. The shot was blocked and in a fairytale ending, the ball fell into Ham’s hands and she laid it in at the buzzer to take the win 49-48. 

“Alaina kept playing and came up with a huge steal. Maycie sealed her girl so that her sister, Lillie, could finish hard at the rim with time expiring,” said Eckert. “The girls played hard and kept fighting the entire game.”

“Defensively, our guards did a great job with their senior point guard and leader Jojo Larsen,” said Eckert. “Our bench players gave us the sparks we needed throughout the game and little by little they chipped away at Custer’s lead.”

The win pulled the rug out from under the Wildcats’ season and advanced the Rangers on to the second-round playoff game against the St. Thomas More Cavaliers.

Leading the charge for the Rangers was Lillie Ham with a game high 19 points and eight rebounds, both Daril Frandsen and Maycie Ham with nine points each and Ginsbach with eight points and seven rebounds.

The Rangers came off of the dramatic win over the Wildcats and launched straight into the lions den at St. Thomas More.  

“STM has a great program,” said Eckert. “They are very well coached and play extremely disciplined.”

The game got off to a sloppy start with the tip-off rolling out of bounds and turnover after turnover for both teams. The two teams battled it out offensively through the majority of the first quarter, tying 8-8 with two minutes remaining. The Cavaliers went on a hot  streak scoring eight unanswered points, ending the half 16-8. 

“We came out well in the first few minutes but defensively they wore us down,” said Eckert. 

STM continued to dominate offensively in the third quarter putting up 15 points while holding the Rangers to just four and widening the gap to 19 at the half. 

“They are a hard team to play defense against because they do the little things right,” said Eckert. “They set good screens, space the floor well and take the team’s best shot.”

STM continued to use their momentum over the Rangers pulling ahead by 30 in the fourth quarter which started the running clock for the rest of the game. The Rangers continued to fight but the effort wasn’t enough. STM took the victory (51-26) and their ticket to the SoDak 16 tournament. The Rangers end their season with a record of 9-13.