The Wolsey-Wessington girl’s athletic programs have been breaking new ground this school year. The Warbirds qualified for the state volleyball tournament this past fall for the first time in school history, and now have their sights set on the school’s first-ever state basketball appearance.

Wolsey-Wessington (21-2) enters the Class B tournament as the top seed and will square off with eighth-seeded Jones County (17-4) at noon today in the opening round at the Huron Arena.

The Warbirds and Coyotes tangled earlier this season on Feb. 11 at the Warner Classic, a game in which Wolsey-Wessington won 55-49. Warbirds coach Josh McGillvrey expects the Coyotes to give his team a competitive game once again.

“Jones County (is) a very good ball team,” McGillvrey said. “They play really good pack line defense and really pack it in, and they just hustle.”

McGillvrey also noted that his team needs to know their assignments, as the Coyotes present the challenge of multiple scorers that can hurt opposing teams on any given night.

While Jones County presents potential problems, the Warbirds present problems for them as well.

Wolsey-Wessington is led by seniors Leah Williams, Mya Boomsma, and Mallory Miller. All three have been averaging double digits in scoring this season, with the 6-foot-4 Miller averaging 17.5 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game. Williams averages 16.5 pointer per game, while Boomsma pumps in 13.3 points per game.

McGillvrey expects all three to contribute mightily to the Warbirds efforts to win the state title.

“They influence the game quite a bit,” McGillvrey said. “If they’re all playing hard and moving that ball around, then we’re pretty hard to defend. You got three girls that are capable of scoring, you don’t know which one it’s going to be that night, but you know one of them is, and it’s really hard to prepare against.”

Although the Warbirds have what it takes to win the state title, McGillvrey also sees several other schools that will contend for the state title, including Ethan, Viborg-Hurley, and Howard.

Overall, McGillvrey sees a very competitive tournament ahead, and knows his team will need to execute on both ends of the floor to bring home the state championship.

“We’ve gotta be in defensive rotations, do the assignments, and communicate,” McGillvrey said. “Offensively, we just have to not push tempo and not turn the ball over. I think once we start moving the ball and get good ball movement, we’re pretty hard to defend.”

Although the towns of Wolsey and Wessington have not experienced a state girls basketball tournament together, each community has a bit of state girls basketball history to their names.

Wessington competed in the 1976 State B girls basketball tournament, finishing in seventh place, while the Wolsey Cardinals won the 1977 Class B state title. Each of the communities is now ready to come together to support the hard work that this year’s team has put in.

“The community has been great, you know, a lot of support,” McGillvrey said. “You’ve got a lot of parents and community members really proud of seeing that hard work pay off, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

McGillvrey added that he expects his team to compete at a high level and bring home a state championship.

“Our expectations are to go out and play at a high level and compete,” McGillvrey said. “We really do think that we can win it all, but we know every team here is very talented. It’s a one team at a time approach.”