Submitted by a Blue Dragon Fan
It's a Cinderella story for the books! The Garretson 3rd Grade Girls faced a lot of road blocks in their 2021-2022 season, which was carried out through the Big Sioux Youth Basketball League out of Harrisburg, SD.
With a short roster of only six girls, every single game throughout the first 90% of the season was played short due to illness. Some days they had five girls from their roster, and other days they only had four. While a lot of the games were close, they kept coming up short - playing with no subs is tiring for these 3rd graders. They did win one game mid-season but had to forfeit the win as they only had four players on the court for the entirety of the game.
Coaches Raegen Altman, Grace Hove, Anna Jones, and Logan Bly kept encouraging the girls despite a losing record. Finally, the girls had their full six player roster towards the end of the season and were able to put a few wins in the standings.
They ended the season as the 9th seed out of 10 teams. March 12 2022 was the big end of season tournament for the league and the girls; their first game they played the 10th seed, a team out of Sioux Falls, and were able to take the win. This advanced them to play the number one seed of the tournament, a team from Harrisburg that was undefeated.
The girls came out with a huge upset and were able to advance to the next round against Watertown, the #4 seed. This game was a true showing of the GRIT and DETERMINATION this team has.
Part way through the game one of the girls got sick and had to leave the court for the remainder of the tournament. We also had a player get hit in the face and suffer a bad nose bleed; she was rushed off the court to be tended to and the coaches were prepared to continue on with only four players.
However, with some toilet paper shoved in her nostril, Drew Stiefvater made her way back onto the court just in time and played the remainder of the game!
While the game was close and the girls were tired from not having subs, the young Blue Dragons came away with another win to advance to the championship round, a Sioux Falls Christian team that was seeded 2nd. This game was a nail biter as well, but the girls pushed through for the win and ended the season as the Champions of their league.
We could all learn a lesson in GRIT and DETERMINATION from these girls. The future of Blue Dragon Basketball looks bright!
