HURON — Two teams looking to find their identity, who both graduated a lot of experience squared off Friday night, with the Huron Tigers dropping a 60-52 decision to the Yankton Gazelles in ESD girls’ basketball action.
Neither team felt comfortable early. Sophomore Havyn Heinz, the lone returning starter for the Tigers, put the home team up early with a steal and layup, but Yankton countered with a Madison Wuebben basket seconds later to knot the score.
The teams see-sawed the rest of the first quarter, as Yankton would score, only to be immediately countered by the Tigers. Heinz hit a long three to offset another Wuebben bucket, and the game rolled along until Yankton scored to go up by a point, 6-5.
Huron again immediately responded as Sami Shoultz hit a three-pointer to make it 8-6.
Yankton scored with two minutes in the quarter, but, once again, Huron responded on its next possession as a Heinz layup made it 10-8, Huron.
Freshman Tenley Buddenhagen pushed the Huron lead to four with a long jumper, but Yankton closed the quarter with a three-point field goal from Payton Wolfgram, making it 12-11 Tigers after one.
As was the case last season, a cool quarter struck Huron in the second stanza, as Yankton continued to roll, scoring the first four points of the quarter for a three-point lead. Buddenhagen scored again to carve the gap to one, but Yankton scored the next four points - all from the charity stripe - to take its largest lead of the game at 19-14.
Then, just when the game seemed about to slip away, Huron rallied. Heinz hit a three and Jayda Shillingstad hit a pair of free throws to tie the score at 19.
But Yankton scored the final six points of the quarter, including a putback by Sadie Fedders. As time expired, the Gazelles took a 25-19 lead into the locker room.
The momentum that Yankton held at the halftime buzzer was waiting for them in the third quarter. A quick deuce pushed the lead to eight points, but Heinz hit her third three to make it 27-22. The next seven points, however, registered on the Gazelles’ side of the scoreboard, until another three from Heinz stopped the bleeding and made the score 34-25 with 3:46 to play in the quarter.
Through the final few minutes, the teams traded baskets as Gracie Schoenfelder kept Huron in the game, although Yankton held a 41-31 lead heading to the fourth.

The Gazelles took their largest lead of the night on a deep Jessica Reinhardt three-point field goal. Shillingstad responded with a nice shot on the baseline, but Reinhardt slipped behind the Huron defense for an easy layup and Wuebben scored on a long jumper to push the lead to 15.
The next few minutes belonged to the Tigers however, as a charity toss from Buddenhagen, a nice pick-and-roll bucket from Schoenfelder and back-to-back field goals from Reagan Rozell - one of them a three - as the Huron press began to pay dividends as the deficit shrank to eight at 49-41.
After a Yankton timeout, Huron forced two more turnovers and turned both of them into Rozell treys to make the score 49-47. Another Gazelle turnover transformed into a Shillingstad basket that tied the score for the first time since late in the second quarter, capping a 16-1 run for Huron.
Yankton converted an old fashioned three-point play, however, as Fedders got a putback and free throw, before Wubben hit five free throws and a layup in the final minute to make the final score 60-52.
“”We had our chances tonight,” said Tiger coach Wade Stobbs. “We were down 13 and got it tied and had a chance to take a lead, but we just didn’t make the plays down the stretch tonight.”
Heinz scored 16 points on the night to lead the Tigers, all but three of them coming in the first half. Rozell added 11, in her fourth-quarter flurry and Schoenfelder added 10 and led Huron with four rebounds.
Wuebben scored 22 and snagged 10 boards - both game-high totals - to lead the Gazelles. Hochsten added 15 points. On the night, Yankton ended the night 14-18 from the charity stripe, while Huron only took 10 free throws, converting four of them.
“That’s what we need to be doing is drawing fouls,” Stobbs said. “To have them make more free throws than we even took is something we need to work on. But our goal is to score 50 points, and we got 52 tonight. We’ll work a bit tomorrow afternoon to prepare for Mitchell Saturday night and get at it again.”
In preliminary action, Yankton came out on top of the JV game, 36-30, Tenley Buddenhagen scored nine points, Bree Gose with eight, while Braylee scored three. Yankton also won the “C” team game, 30-19, with 11 points from Mattie Huber, while Mikena Moore and Bessie Willemsen each scored three points.

Huron     12 19 31 52
Yankton     11 25 41 59

Huron: Reagen Rozell 4 0-0 11; Jayda Shillingstad 2 2-2 6; Havyn Heinz 6 0-0 16; Sami Schoultz 1 0-0 3; Gracie Schoenfelder 5 0-4 10; Tenley Buddenhagen 2 2-4 6. Totals: 20 4-10 52

Yankton: Anna Savey 0 2-2 2; Payton Wolfgram 2 0-0 5; Madison Wuebben 8 5-6 22; Jassica Reinhardt 2 1-2 6; Maddy Hochstein 5 5-5 15; Kelsey Oswald 0 0-1 0; Sadie Fedders 3 1-2 7; Madie Cordell 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 14-18 59.

Rebounds: H 16 (Schoenfelder 4, Heinz 3); Y 35 (Wuebben 10, Hochstein 6). FG: H 20-49, 41%; Y 21-42, 50%. 3-pt FG: H 8-12, 67% (Heinz 4, Rozell 3, Schoultz 1); Y 3-9, 33% (Wolfgram 1, Wuebben 1, Reinhardt 1). TO: H 12; Y 15. Assists: H 14; Y 5. Steals: H 11; Y 5. Fouls: H 21; Y 14.

PHOTOS BY MIKE CARROLL/PLAINSMAN
Huron’s Havyn Heinz puts up a shot as Yankton’s Payton Wolfgram defends on the play during their game Friday at Huron Arena.
Huron’s Tenley Buddenhagen handles the ball against defensive pressure by Yankton’s Sadie Fedders during their game Friday at Huron Arena.