March 3: Pine Ridge senior standout Marvin Richard III broke a 73-year-old boys’ basketball state record for most points in a single game. He scored 73 of the Thorpes’ 108 points in a win over Lakota Tech in the Region 7A Tournament. Delbert Gilliam scored 72 points for Argonne (near Howard in Miner County) on Feb. 10, 1953, in its 126-81 home win over Canova. On Feb. 23, 1952, in a District 4 Tournament game in Aberdeen, Bob Wolff of Frederick scored 70 points (33 FGs/4 FTs) in his team’s 73-19 win over Stratford. Richard, Gilliam and Wolff are the only South Dakota prep players to have scored 70 or more points in a game.
March 5: The Watertown Lakers’ girls’ varsity hockey team defeated Aberdeen 1-0 in three overtimes to open the state tourney in Mitchell. It was Watertown’s first first-round win in a state tourney since 2014. Off an assist from Piper Krueger, Mikenna Knopf scored with 42 seconds left in the third overtime to give the Lakers of coach Stephen Vannelli the win. Watertown goalie Kira Reppe had 33 saves while Aberdeen’s Chloe Vikander made 44 saves.
March 6: The USD men’s basketball team season came to an end with a loss to Omaha in the Summit League Tournament. Despite facing a season of adversity, the Coyotes of coach Eric Peterson were competitive throughout the year and finished 16-16. USD had nine players miss significant time due to injuries. Most of those players were lost for the season. At one point, they were down to six players. The season of injuries continued in the post-season as starting point guard Uzziah Buntyn was injured and did not play against Omaha.
March 7: The University of North Dakota men’s basketball team advanced to the Summit League Tournament championship thanks to a Eli King steal (five seconds left) and pass that resulted in a game-winning free throw with .1 second left by teammate George Natsvlishvilli. The Fighting Hawks defeated St. Thomas 67-66. It is the second time (also in 2020) UND has advanced to the title game, both under coach Paul Sather, a former standout NSU player and coach.
March 8: Seniors Brooklyn Meyer, Madison Mathiowetz and Ellie Colbeck combined for 40 points to lead the SDSU women’s basketball team to its fourth-straight Summit League title and NCAA DI tourney qualification. The Jacks defeated NDSU 64-51.
March 8: Sioux Falls hosted 30 postseason college basketball games over nine days featuring 34 teams from seven states. They city hosted the men’s and women’s Summit League tourneys and both Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournaments.
March 10: Former Aberdeen Roncalli and NSU standout Madelyn Bragg and Sioux Falls native Hannah Ronsiek (O’Gorman) led Colorado State to the Mountain West Tournament championship. The Rams women’s basketball team defeated Air Force 56-42 for the title. Air Force was led by former Rapid City Stevens star Jayda McNabb, the Mountain West defensive player of the year. The Rams are coached by Ryun Williams, a former USD standout player who coached the Coyotes women’s team from 2008-12.
March 11: Yankton native and Paralympian medalist Miles Krajewski is ranked No. 1 in the world for the first time in his para-badminton division.
March 11: Ashlyn Koupal of Wagner repeated as the South Dakota Player of the Year from Gatorade. She is only the fourth girl in state history to win the award twice. The others were her aunt Mandy Koupal of Wagner; Jill Young of Mitchell Christian; and Nicole Tendler of SF Roosevelt. Ranked as a five-star recruit and top-25 player nationally in the class of 2026, Koupal has signed to play college basketball at the University of Nebraska. She is one of the 24 girls’ basketball players nationally to be picked to play the McDonald’s All-American game this season.
March 14: Wagner senior Ashlyn Koupal ended her career with 2,607 points, fifth on the state’s all-time scoring list. Only Mitchell Christian’s Jill Young (3,317), Wakonda’s Becky Flynn (3,268), Bennett County’s Carla Allard (2,835) and Newell’s Jordan Stapp (2,815) have more points in South Dakota high school girls’ basketball history
March 14: The Rushmore Thunder capped a second-straight unbeaten season in the South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association with another varsity boys’ state title. The Thunder (25-0) defeated the Yankton Bucks 8-3 in the championship of the 2026 state tournament. It was Yankton’s first appearance in a state title game.
March 14: Mak Scott of Lyman finished her career with 2,076 points, making her the 38th girls’ basketball player in state history to finish with more than 2,000. She led the Raiders to the last three state tourneys and a 63-12 record over that stretch.
March 14: Providence Academy became the first Minnesota high school girls’ basketball team to win five consecutive state titles with a 95-60 victory over Marshall School (Duluth, MN) in the Class AA final at the University of Minnesota’s Williams Arena. The state’s all-time leading scorer, Providence Academy senior Maddyn Greenway, closed a historic six-year chapter with 5,621 points. She is the daughter of former Mount Vernon and Minnesota Vikings’ standout Chad Greenway. Second on the Minnesota High School all-time scoring list is another 2026 graduate, Tori Oehrlein of Crosby-Ironton, who scored 5,485 career points. Both Greenway and Oehrlein broke the record of Rebekah Dahlman, who finished her career at Braham in 2013 with 5,060 points.
March 14: USD pole vaulters Marleen Mulla (15-1.5) and Anna Willis (14-11.5) finished second and third in the Division I National Indoor Track and Field Championships in Arkansas. Washington junior Hana Moll won the event by clearing 15-9.75.
March 15: Former SDSU standout Oscar Cluff scored 21 points to lead the Purdue Boilermakers to the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament championship. Purdue won four games in four days, with Cluff contributing 69 points, 38 rebounds and seven assists.
March 15: The ESPN watch party in Brookings for the NCAA women’s basketball selection show was canceled due to a snow blizzard. However, that didn’t stop the team from celebrating their program’s 14th appearance in the Big Dance in 18 attempts. SDSU will play Washington in the first round.
March 15: Four former USD women’s basketball coaches are in the NCAA DI tournament. Ryun Williams and his Colorado State Rams that featured a starting lineup that included former NSU and Aberdeen Roncalli standout Madelyn Bragg along with former O’Gorman star Hannah Ronsiek. Amy Williams and her Nebraska Cornhuskers are also in the tourney. Finally, the other two former USD coaches faced each other in the first round as Dawn Plitzuweit and her Minnesota Gophers defeated Green Bay on March 20. Green Bay is coached by Kayla Karius. Ryun Williams coached the Coyotes from 2008-12; Amy Williams from 2012-16; Plitzuweit from 2016-22; and Karius from 2022-24. Also, current USD coach Carrie Eighmey (2024-) and her Coyotes will compete in the 2026 Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), a 48-team tourney USD won in 2016 and SDSU won in 2022.
March 16: Former Sioux Falls Roosevelt and SDSU standout offensive lineman Mason McCormick was one of 25 NFL players to receive at least $1 million from the 2025 NFL Performance-Based Pay distribution. It essentially rewards lower-paid players who play large roles on their team. McCormick of the Pittsburgh Steelers more than doubled his base salary of $960,000 by earning almost $1.2 million from the NFL Players Association’s collectively bargained benefit package. Through two seasons, McCormick has started 31 of 34 possible games, has allowed just six sacks and has been penalized only three times.
March 20: Washington defeated SDSU 72-54 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to end the Jacks’ season at 27-7. SDSU is now 6-14 in NCAA tourney games. SDSU seniors Brooklyn Meyer, Madison Mathiowetz and Ellie Colbeck had an amazing run in their careers with the Jacks with a 113-23 career record, four NCAA appearances, four Summit League Tournament titles and three Summit League regular-season titles in which the Jacks posted a 64-2 conference record over the last four seasons. Meyer (2,097 points in 136 games) and Mathiowetz (1,235 points in 133 games) both ended as among the top scorers in SDSU history. Add to Meyer’s resume: three-time all-tourney and all-league first team, tourney MVP, Summit League player of the year and defensive player of the year, numerous school records and to add to her career totals: 850 rebounds, 239 assists, 174 blocks and 105 steals. And she made 61 percent of her career field-goal attempts.
March 21: After the 2026 State AA Boys’ Basketball Tournament, Derek Robey retired as head coach of O’Gorman. After he arrived in Sioux Falls in 2005 from coaching in Aberdeen, the Knights won six state titles (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2017) under Robey along with three state runner-up finishes (2019, 2021 and 2022). He directed OG to 17 state tournaments in 21 seasons. Robey went 478-241 in 32 boys’ seasons at OG, Aberdeen Central and Aberdeen Roncalli. He was 122-92 in 10 years of coaching girls’ basketball at Roncalli and Central.
March 21: After the 2026 State AA Boys’ Basketball Tournament, Pat McClemans retired as head coach of Watertown. McClemans spent 30 seasons on the sidelines including 24 as a head coach, with two stints as the Watertown girls’ head coach and the past four as the Arrows’ boys’ head coach.
March 21: Thirty years ago, three of the coaches (Watertown’s Pat McClemans, O’Gorman’s Derek Robey and Huron’s Tim Buddenhagen) in the State AA Boys’ Basketball Tournament were coaching against each other as the head girls’ basketball coaches at three Eastern South Dakota Conference schools. The Pierre girls at that time were coached by McClemans, Huron by Buddenhagen and Aberdeen Central by Robey.
March 22: Amaya Battle scored with 0.8 seconds left to lift host Minnesota past Mississippi 65-63 in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament in front of 10,7643 fans at the Barn (Williams Arena). It is the first time in 21 years that the Gophers have reached the Sweet 16. Minnesota is coached by former USD coach Dawn Piltzuweit and one of her assistants is former USD and Sully Buttes standout Chloe Lamb (director of player development).
March 21-22: USD graduates Chris Nilsen (Kansas City) and Sara Reifenrath (Hartington, NE) joined current Coyote senior Marleen Mulla (Estonia) to compete at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland. Nilsen (2021 Toyko Olympics silver medalist) and Mulla are pole vaulters while Reifenrath is a runner who won 23 Summit League titles with USD. None medaled.
March 21: The Dakota State women’s basketball team defeated Georgetown (KY) 85-79 to advance to the NAIA national semifinals. The Trojans were led by Tabor Teel (West Central) with 16 points, 16 rebounds, six blocks and four assists. DSU also got big contributions from Caitlin Dyer (South Australia) with 16 points, Cierra Watkins (Sioux Falls Jefferson) with 13 points and Ella Carstensen (Hudson, WI) with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
March 21: The Dakota Wesleyan women’s basketball team defeated Bethel (TN) 82-77 to advance to the NAIA national semifinals. The Tigers were led by Rylee Rosenquist (North Sioux City/Dakota Valley) with 40 points in her hometown of Sioux City (IA) while Avery Broughton (Corsica-Stickney) added 21 points. The winners also got a combined 13 assists from Emma Yost (Wagner) and Jaida Young (Watertown). Also, with the win, head coach Jason Christensen reached 352 wins as head coach in his 14th season, surpassing the legendary Gordie Fosness for all-time career victories for a basketball coach at DWU.
March 21: Aberdeen native and Nebraska senior Gena Jorgenson earned two All-American awards at the 2026 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Atlanta. She finished fourth in the 1,650 meters freestyle and 14 th in the 500-meter freestyle. She was the Big Ten champion in the 1,650.
March 23: The Dakota State (30-6) and Dakota Wesleyan (29-7) women’s basketball teams’ seasons came to an end in the NAIA national semifinals. Two-time defending national champion Dordt (IA) defeated Dakota State 83-69 and Marian (IN) defeated Dakota Wesleyan 62-54. The Trojans of David Moe have won six conference titles in a row and have gone 166-37 over those six seasons. The Tigers of Jason Christensen won the national title in 2018 and have gone 126-42 over the last five seasons.
March 24: The Dordt Defenders women’s basketball team (34-3) finished as the NAIA national runners-up, losing to Marian (IN) 73-61. The Defenders of coach Bill Harmsen (a University of Sioux Falls graduate) have won two (2025, 2024) of the last five national titles and were national runners-up in 2022 and this year. South Dakotans on Dordt’s roster this year are Ava Lingemann (Ethan), Trinity Watson and Taylor Watson (Florence-Henry), Ellie Lems (Sioux Falls Christian), Mara Grant (Tea Area), and Kasey Hanson (Gayville/Vermillion). Coach Harmsen has now coached Dordt to a 163-20 record in the last five seasons.
March 27: The UCLA women’s basketball team defeated Minnesota 80-56 in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen. It was the first time in 21 years that the Gophers (24-9) have reached the Sweet 16. Minnesota is coached by former USD coach Dawn Piltzuweit and one of her assistants is former USD and Sully Buttes standout Chloe Lamb (director of player development).
March 29: Ten years after winning the title, the USD women’s basketball team advanced to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament Fab Four with a 65-56 win over Montana State. Molly Joyce (Algona, IA) led the Coyotes with 31 points. In USD first two WNIT wins, Angelina Robles (San Diego, CA) led the Coyotes with 21 points in an 80-60 win over Northern Colorado. Then, Patience Williams (Minneapolis) scored the game’s first 14 points to lead USD past Pepperdine 73-57. All three wins for coach Carrie Eighmey have been in Vermillion. In 2016, tourney MVP Nicole Seekamp and fellow all-tourney selection Tia Hemiller led coach Amy Williams’ Coyotes to six wins (Creighton, Minnesota, Northern Iowa, Western Kentucky, Oregon and Florida Gulf Coast) and the WNIT title.
March 31: The East defeated the West 91-71 in the McDonald’s All-American High School Girls’ Basketball Game. Among the 24 high school seniors chosen to play in the game were West teammates Ashlyn Koupal (Wagner) and Minnesotan Maddyn Greenway (Providence Academy of Plymouth), daughter of former Mount Vernon, Iowa and Minnesota Vikings standout Chad Greenway. Not only is Chad Greenway a Mount Vernon graduate, so is Koupal’s mom Tera.
Email us at dave@sdsportscene.com if you think we missed something or if you have an event you would like us to consider for this feature.
