Feb. 29-March 4: Five players with South Dakota connections each had shining moments at the NFL Draft Combine. SDSU running back Isaiah Davis tied for fifth with the most bench presses at 225-pounds. USD cornerback Myles Harden had the best time in the 20-yard shuttle plus the third best time in the 3-cone drill as well as tying for sixth in the bench press. SDSU offensive lineman Mason McCormick tied for the best broad jump, the fourth best vertical jump, the fourth best 20-yard shuttle and tied for the sixth best time in the 10-yard split. SDSU offensive lineman Garret Greenfield set an all-time combine record in the vertical jump and was ninth in the broad jump. Illinois tight end prospect Tip Reiman (St. Thomas More and Sioux Falls O’Gorman) was sixth in the 40-yard dash, tied for first for the best 10-yard split, was seventh in the vertical jump, was fifth in the broad jump, third in the three-cone drill, fourth in the 20-yard shuttle and first in the bench press. A total of 321 players were invited to the NFL combine in Indianapolis.
March 1: In her first season with defending NAIA national champion Clarke University of Iowa women’s basketball team, Lemmon native Haley Froelich was named the Heart of America Athletic Conference’s assistant coach of the year. Froelich helped guide the Pride to a 28-1 regular-season record and win the Heart conference regular season with a 23-1 mark. Froelich had been the assistant at Dickinson State the past four seasons and was a two-time All-American at Presentation College where she led NAIA DII in scoring during the 2015-16 season as she averaged 24.9 points per game. Last year, Clarke defeated Dakota State in the national semifinals.
March 2: The SDSU softball team defeated No. 15 Arkansas 7-3 on the Razorbacks’ home field in the Wooo Pig Classic. It was only the second time in 28 tries where SDSU in its DI era defeated a nationally-ranked team. Tori Kniesche was the winning pitcher with nine strikeouts and allowing only seven hits. Former SDSU player Cylie Halvorson (Sioux Falls Roosevelt) had one of those hits for Arkansas. At the plate, Lindsey Culver had two hits and two RBIs for the Jacks.
March 2: Ethan native Karly Gustafson became the all-time leading scorer in the history of women’s basketball at Dordt University in Iowa. Already Dordt’s all-time leading rebounder, Gustafson now has 1,871 career points. Erika Feenstra (2017-21) had the Dordt scoring record with 1,867 points.
March 2: The SDSU women’s basketball team honored senior Tori Nelson, said good-bye to an old friend, beat NDSU 89-74 and completed a 16-0 Summit League run to win the conference regular-season title. SDSU has won 47 straight Summit League regular-season games and has gone 65-1 in the last four seasons. It also was the final event played in Frost Arena where the SDSU women have gone 572-133 since February 1973. The facility will be redone as First Bank & Trust Arena when it reopens this fall. Brooklyn Meyer led the Jacks against NDSU with 29 points, and she has made 29 of her last 31 field-goal attempts in the last three games, a 94 percent average.
March 3: Rylee Hepper scored with 13 minutes remaining in the third period to lift the Aberdeen Cougars past the Sioux Falls Flyers 1-0 in the girls’ hockey state championship game. The Aberdeen defense was led by goalie Chloe Vikander, who stopped 23 shots. The tourney was played in the new $36.4 million Prairie Lakes Ice Arena in Watertown.
March 3: In front of 11,318 hometown fans on Senior Day, former NSU standout Parker Fox got his first career start for the Minnesota Gophers. Fox, who has another year of eligibility after two back-to-back ACL tears left him on the sideline for two years and almost 1,000 days, also played a key role in turning a 23-point deficit into a 75-70 win over Penn State. Fox had 11 points, six rebounds, four blocks and one steal.
March 4: Former NSU standout Sundance Wicks of Green Bay has been named the Horizon League’s men’s basketball coach of the year. Last year, the Phoenix were 3-29 and considered one of the worst DI teams in the NCAA. This year, Green Bay is 18-13, the most wins for a Phoenix team since the 2016-17 season.
March 4: Former SDSU standout Baylor Scheierman was named the Big East Conference player of the week as he helped Creighton defeat Seton Hall (85-64) and No. 5 Marquette (89-75). Scheierman averaged 23 points, 13.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals in the two wins for the No. 10 Bluejays. Scheierman earned this honor on Dec. 4 as well. The honors continued for Scheierman on March 6 when he was named as one of five finalists for the Julius Erving Award as the nation’s best small forward.
March 5: An NFL player visited Jill Young’s third-grade class at Aberdeen Roncalli Elementary. Young’s cousin, Spencer Waege, is a member of the San Francisco 49ers. The South Shore native and former Watertown and NDSU standout defensive end is in his second year with the team that went to this year’s Super Bowl. Waege played in all of the team’s 2023 pre-season games, but was later cut, and then resigned to the 49ers’ practice squad. He was recently resigned for 2024.
March 5: For the second year in a row, Aberdeen Central graduate Hailey Holland of Gustavus Adolphus was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Hockey Player of the Year. The Gustavus Adolphus senior is a two-time All-American who played in 121 games and scored 141 points (73 goals, 68 assists) for the Gusties — she is the third leading scorer in school history. Holland helped her team win four regular-season conference titles and four MIAC Tournament titles. Her team went 100-17-4 in her five seasons with four NCAA Tournament appearances, a national runner-up finish in 2022 and a NCAA DIII national title in 2023. She was a finalist for national player of the year the past two seasons.
March 6: Two South Dakotans on the Dakota Wesleyan basketball teams picked up freshmen of the year honors in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. DWU freshman Emma Yost of Wagner won the women’s award and Randy Rosenquist Jr. of Dakota Valley won the men’s award.
March 6: Four men will be inducted into the South Dakota Basketball Coaches Association’s Hall of Shrine this month at the various state basketball tournaments. Inductees include long-time Roslyn coach Tom Lee, who also coached at Waubay and former South Dakota High School Activities Association assistant executive director Bob Lowery of Pierre. The other inductees are long-time official Mike Redmond of Brookings and long-time coach Ron Determan of Burke.
March 7: Former NSU standout Steve Smiley of Northern Colorado was named the Big Sky Conference co-coach of the year in men’s basketball along with Eastern Washington’s David Riley. Smiley’s Bears (19-13) finished second in the conference but were picked to finish ninth in the 10-team conference.
March 7: Coach Shaun Little Horn and his Oglala Lakota College men’s basketball team won a national title. The Bravehearts won the Division II American Indian Higher Education Consortium National Basketball Tournament in St. Paul. The team is still recovering from the effects of Covid-19 as it has only played 20 games in four seasons (two season were canceled). Pine Ridge High School graduate Haliin Bad Bear was the tourney MVP and his teammates were Florenceo Hatten, Seneca Valandra, Wakiyan Catches Enemy, Trayshon Spoonhunter, Nehemiah Baustian, Uriah Baustian, Dylan Tabacco and Tayvon Apple.

March 7: Former Aberdeen Wings standout Landon Parker of Augsburg was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Hockey Rookie of the Year. The East Grand Forks (MN) native had an impressive debut campaign as a forward, scoring six goals with 12 assists for 18 points in 26 games. He collected two game-winning goals, had eight blocked shot. In 2022-23 as the Wings assistant captain, Parker played in 49 games and scored 29 points for Aberdeen.
March 9: Centerville defeated Arlington 62-44 to win the girls’ basketball State B title. Only seven seasons ago, Centerville did not have enough players to field a varsity team in 2016-17. Centerville went 28-52 in the four seasons after that, before going 61-10 the past three seasons, including 24-2 this season. Coach Tucker Tornberg’s Tornadoes got 54 points and 28 rebounds from Makayla Heesch, Emma Marshall, Althea Gust and Lillie Eide.
March 9: The Augustana men’s hockey team of coach Garrett Raboin finished its inaugural season with a solid record of 12-18-4. As new teams often do, the Vikings did its fair share of travelling by logging 18,672 miles this season.
March 9: Mount Vernon-Plankinton senior Emilee Fox finished her prep career with 2,260 points. The SDSU recruit finished on March 9 as the 16th all-time leading scorer in South Dakota girls’ basketball history. Jill Young of Mitchell Christian set the all-time record of 3,317 points in 2007.
March 10: SDSU wrestlers Cade DeVos (174) and Tanner Sloan (197) won Big 12 titles in Tulsa. Iowa State won the team title (152.5 points) followed by Oklahoma State (141.5) and the Jackrabbits (122). DeVos and Sloan became the first SDSU wrestlers to win Big 12 titles since Seth Gross (133 pounds) and Nate Rotert (197 pounds) in 2018.
March 10: Rapid City Stevens graduate Jayda McNabb made the All-Mountain West Conference Freshmen Team of the Year. McNabb, a 5-foot-9 freshman for Air Force, led the conference in offensive rebounds by averaging 3.9 per game as well as 1.72 steals per game (third best in the conference). McNabb was the shortest player on the MWC rebounding list.
March 10: South Dakota native Nash “Polar Bear” Hutmacher of Oacoma finished sixth at heavyweight in the Big Ten Wrestling Championships to secure a spot in the NCAA Nationals. The Cornhuskers’ All-Big Ten football noseguard joined the wrestling team in January. The Chamberlain graduate last wrestled in 2020 in high school, where he was a four-time state champ with a 166-0 high school career record including a streak of 73 pins in a row and being the No. 1-ranked heavyweight in the nation as a senior. Vermillion native Mark Manning has been the Nebraska wrestling coach for the past 27 seasons.
March 10: Nehemaia “Mooch” Tupou, 48, has died. Born in 1976 in California, Tupou was a former NSU football and rugby standout as well as a long-time NSU assistant football coach. He was beloved for his kindness and the energy he brought to his university and community.
March 11: The Sioux Falls Storm have a new head coach in Andre Fields, but the indoor football team announced that Aberdeen native Cory Johnson will return for his 18th season with the team. Johnson had a Hall of Fame career with the team for 10 seasons (eight titles, including the team’s 40-0 run from 2006-08) and has been an assistant coach for the past seven seasons. The Storm’s season opener is March 22 and the home opener is April 14.
March 11: The Hanson school board accepted the resignation of Jim Bridge, who is retiring at the end of the school year as the district’s superintendent, athletic director and girls’ basketball coach. The Wagner and NSU graduate coached Hanson to a 636-235 record in 38 seasons. The 62-year-old became the state’s all-time winningest girls’ basketball coach this season, getting his 630th win on Jan. 26. Aberdeen Central athletic director Dawn Seiler won 629 games with the Golden Eagles and McIntosh in her 36 years of coaching.
March 11: The Newell School Board decided to play a junior varsity football schedule for the next two seasons rather than field a varsity team. The Irrigators have lost 32 varsity games in a row.
March 12: The Big Ten Conference announced that former NSU standout Parker Fox of the University of Minnesota was one of its Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winners. Fox suffered back-to-back season-ending injuries that kept him off the court for almost 1,000 days until he returned this season for the Gophers.
March 12: The SDSU men’s basketball team (22-12) defeated Denver 78-68 to win the Summit League Tournament. William Kyle III was named the tourney MVP with 39 points, 26 rebounds and 11 dunks in SDSU’s three wins. Also named to the all-tourney team for the Jacks were Zeke Mayo and Luke Appel. Charlie Easley also played a key role for Coach Eric Henderson’s team. SDSU is now 28-9 all-time in this tourney with other tourney titles coming in 2022, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2013 and 2012.
March 12: The SDSU women’s basketball team (27-5) defeated NDSU 67-54 to win the Summit League Tournament. Paige Meyer was named the tourney MVP with 62 points, 16 assists, 15 rebounds and seven steals in SDSU’s three wins. Also named to the all-tourney team for the Jacks were Brooklyn Meyer and Madison Mathiowetz. Tori Nelson, who set a team record with her 145th career start, also played a key role for Coach Aaron Johnston’s team. SDSU is now 38-5 all-time in this tourney with 11 tourney titles (2024, 2023, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009) in 16 tries.
March 13: Brandon Valley boys’ basketball coach Brent Deckert died of cancer at age 55. Born in 1969 in Wadena, MN, he taught and coached at Brandon Valley for more than 20 years. He led the Lynx to nine state tourneys, a 2019 state title and state runner-up finishes in 2013 and 2003. Many state tournament coaching staffs at the three different tournaments (March 14-16) wore “The Game Honors Toughness” shirts honoring Deckert as one of his favorite mottos.
March 15: Alcester native Craig Doty is named Houston Christian University men’s basketball coach. The former Alcester-Hudson standout was at NCAA DII Emporia (KS) State. The HCU Huskies play in the DI Southland Conference. Doty, a three-time national coach of the year, is 259-126 in his 12 seasons as a college head coach.
March 16: Former NSU men’s basketball standout and Fort Scott (KS) High School girls’ basketball coach Pechone Stepps was named the Southeast Kansas League coach of the year for the third season in a row. His Lady Tigers were the SEK league and sub-state champions and finished fourth in the state tourney. In the last three years, his teams have gone 58-11. This year, Stepps’ team/staff/school, cheerleaders and fans won the 2024 prestigious Kansas State Tournament’s sportsmanship award as well.
March 15-17: Six wins over old Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foes propelled the Pittsburgh (KS) State softball squad to become the first NCAA team this season to reach 30 wins. Former NSU coach Jenny Fuller’s Gorillas defeated Winona, Augustana and Concordia-St. Paul in three days of doubleheaders.
March 15: Suanne Big Crow (1974-1992) of Pine Ridge would have turned 50 today. The legendary South Dakota person, student and athlete was killed Feb. 9, 1992, in an auto accident on the way to the Miss Basketball Banquet in Huron. She had the game-winning shot to give her beloved Thorpes the 1989 State A basketball championship. A volleyball star as well, the Spirit of Su was started at the 1994 state basketball tournaments to honor her memory. On the 30th anniversary of the award, the 2024 winners were: Ava Lingemann of Ethan and Nic Marshall of White River (Class B); Emilee Fox of Mount Vernon-Plankinton and Lane Tietz of Groton (A); and Sawyer Stoebner of Mitchell and Jacoby Mehrman of Harrisburg (AA).
March 16: All three boys’ basketball state championship games were incredible. In Class B, Howard defeated De Smet 60-55 in overtime. In regulation, Howard’s Luke Koesell scored with 1.5 seconds left to give his team a 52-50 lead. However, George Jensen of De Smet caught a full-court pass and his jumper sent the game into overtime. Five Kolt Koepsell free throws in OT propelled Howard to dethrone the three-time champion Bulldogs. In Class A, Hamlin nipped Sioux Falls Christian 53-50 in overtime. Tyson Stevenson and Easton Neuendorf combined for 28 points for Hamlin while SFC got 19 points and 10 rebounds from Griffen Goodbary. In Class AA, Mitchell stopped Brandon Valley 46-45. With 30 seconds left, Gavin Hinker scored the game-winning basket off an assist from Markus Talley. Howard last won the state title in 1964, Hamlin in 1983 and Mitchell 2005.
March 16: Howard shook off several years of boys’ basketball frustration in winning the State B title. From 2013-19, Howard won only 13 games in those six seasons, including two winless seasons from 2013-15.
March 16: Former NSU standout and pro basketball player Sam Masten led the Derby Trailblazers to England’s 2024 KitKing Division 1 championship with an MVP performance. Masten’s Trailblazers defeated the Bradford Dragons 89-74 in front of a packed house at Loughborough (England) University. Masten collected 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
March 17: Reece Arbogast was the winning pitcher and Dawson Parry hit his third grand slam of the season as SDSU (10-10) defeated host Oral Roberts 6-3. The Jackrabbits became the first Summit League team ever to sweep a weekend, three-game series against ORU (joined SL in 2014) in Tulsa, OK. SDSU’s Cael Frost reached base safely in 12 of 16 at-bats with six hits during the weekend sweep. Frost was the Summit League player of the week and teammate Nic McCay was the pitcher of the week as McCay tied a SDSU DI era record of 13 strikeouts in a game in one of SDSU’s wins over ORU on Friday.
March 17: South Dakota native Danielle Sievers (Gary-Deuel) scored a 9.95 on the bars to help the No. 1 Oklahoma gymnastics team defeat No. 7 Alabama and set a new school record 198.775 points. It was also the 500th win at Oklahoma for coach K.J. Kindler (18 years at OU and only six away from career win 600). Sievers is a multi-All-American who has helped the Sooners win the past two national championships.
March 18: Former 1960s and ’70s Gregory High School and Northern State football and track standout Dave Pastian died at age 73. He had a tryout with the Cleveland Browns. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. June 1 at Best Point Park at Lake Madison, SD.
March 19: DWU men’s basketball coach Matt Wilber has resigned to accept a position with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. Wilber joins new Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts (Sioux Falls Roosevelt/USD) and new assistant Megan Vogel (SDSU) on the Mercury’s staff. Wilber and his family will remain to have Mitchell as their home base as wife Lindsay Wilber is the DWU volleyball coach. Wilber coached the DWU men to a 224-125 record the past 11 seasons with six NAIA national appearances. His 2015 Tigers (32-5) were the national runners-up. Wilber was a Dell Rapids and Augustana basketball standout who previously partnered with Tibbetts in the Tibbetts Instructional Basketball School in Sioux Falls.

March 19: Former NSU standout Parker Fox stole the ball in the final seconds which led to Minnesota teammate Elijah Hawkins getting to the line and draining two game-winning free throws with 5.3 seconds left. Minnesota defeated Butler 73-72 in the opening round of the National Invitational Tournament. The inspiring and energizing Fox helped the Gophers with 10 points, two rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.

March 21: The Colorado State men’s basketball season ended this week in its second 2024 NCAA Tournament game with a 56-44 loss to Texas. It marked the end of Joel Scott’s career. Scott was the 2023 DII player of the year in his four seasons at Black Hills State. In his final season with his home-state Rams, Scott helped his team to a 25-11 record, starting all 36 games and collecting 471 points, 221 rebounds, 49 assists, 32 blocks and 28 steals. In 2023, Scott graduated from Black Hills State, where he advanced the Yellow Jackets to two DII Final Fours & the 2022 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament and regular-season championships. Scott played in 116 games for BHSU — 84 wins, starting 114, and collected a school-record 2,471 points, 997 rebounds, 169 assists, 101 blocks and 86 steals. He was the 2020 RMAC Freshman of the Year and a two-time RMAC player of the year.

March 23: South Dakota native Danielle Sievers (Gary-Deuel) scored a 9.9 on the bars to help the No. 1 Oklahoma gymnastics team win its third straight Big 12 Conference title in a row. The Sooners scored another school-record & NCAA team scoring record with 198.950 points. The NCAA record had stood for 20 years. OU had last broken the team scoring record six days ago.

March 23: In the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, Utah ended SDSU’s season 68-54 and Tori Nelson’s brilliant career. Nelson played in 157 games for the Jacks, starting in a school-record 146 of them with the Jacks going 129-35 overall, 78-4 in the conference and 67-8 at Frost Arena with Nelson in uniform. She helped the Jacks win four Summit League regular-season titles, two SL tourney titles, the 2022 WNIT championship and three NCAA appearances (1-3). Nelson, who won enough awards to start her own trophy case, ended with 1,416 points, 657 rebounds, 320 assists, 145 blocks and 122 steals. Nelson fouled out of only eight games in her college career and she played in 21 states.

March 24: The South Dakota town of Orient got some love on national TV during SDSU’s 68-54 NCAA Tournament loss to Utah. The ESPNU announcers were talking about how SDSU women’s basketball coach Aaron Johnston is so good at finding talent in big cities and small towns alike. One example the announcers used was Faulkton graduate Isabel Aesoph’s hometown of Orient, population 53.

March 25: The Iowa men’s basketball team will return to the Sanford Pentagon for a fourth time this fall. The Hawkeyes will play Utah on Dec. 21. Utah is coached by former NSU graduate assistant and USD coach Craig Smith.

March 25: Long-time Aberdeen Central teacher, coach and athletic director Gene Brownell will be inducted into the South Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Fame later this year. He will be joined by former Brandon Valley AD Randy Marso; former Rapid City Central AD Darren Paulson; former Gettysburg AD Vern Smith (1963-2023); and NSU grad and former Doland and Arlington AD Chris Lund (1961-2017).

March 26: Ethan native Karly Gustafson and her Dordt (IA) University women’s basketball teammates defeated the University of Providence 57-53 to win the NAIA national championship. The Defenders (35-2) were led by tourney MVP Macy Seivers and fellow all-tourney selections Gustafson and Janie Schoonhoven. Gustafson ended her career as Dordt’s all-time leading scorer (1,976) and rebounde (1,099).

March 27: The Monument in Rapid City will host a Division I men’s basketball game in Summit Arena this fall. On Nov. 14, South Dakota State will face Northern Colorado. Former NSU standout Steve Smiley is the coach of Northern Colorado.

March 28: Former SDSU men’s basketball coach Scott Nagy is the new coach at Southern Illinois. Nagy, the former coach at Wright State (OH), has a career record of 577-332. Nagy was at Wright State eight seasons with five Horizon League titles and three post-season berths. Nagy was at SDSU 21 seasons and guided the Jacks through its transition from NCAA DII to DI.

March 28: Wright State men’s basketball associate head coach Clint Sargent has been promoted to head coach of the university in Dayton (OH). Sargent is a former standout player at SDSU. He is married to former SDSU and Mitchell Christian standout player Jill Young. Sargent not only coached under Scott Nagy (who took the job at Southern Illinois), but he played for Nagy at SDSU. Sargent (1,505 points from 2007-11) and Young (1,356 points from 2008-12) combined for 2,861 points for the Jacks; Young holds the South Dakota high school girls’ basketball career scoring record with 3,317 points.

March 28: Long-time Augustana men’s basketball coach Tom Billeter resigned to take over at Emporia (KS) State. Earlier, Emporia coach and Tea native Craig Doty resigned to take the job at Houston Christian University. In his 21 seasons at Augie, Billeter led the Vikings to a 393 wins, nine national tournaments, five conference/NSIC Tournament titles and the 2016 NCAA DII National championship. Billeter will be replaced by one of his former Augie standouts, Cody Schilling (2012 AU graduate). The former All-American Schilling has been serving as an Augie assistant and is the 16th head coach in the 103-year-history of Vikings’ basketball. In 26 seasons (including five at NDSU), Billeter has a 490-274 career record.

March 28: Jaxon Nelson made the most of his hockey homecoming. Nelson rallied his Minnesota Gophers men’s hockey team past Omaha (NE) 3-2 by scoring two goals in the final 11 minutes. The win advanced the Gophers to the championship of the Sioux Falls NCAA Regional, one step away from the Frozen Four. As a member of the Sioux Falls Stampede in 2019, Nelson led the team to the USHL championship (Clark Cup). Nelson also is a high school graduate of Luverne (MN), which is 37 miles from Sioux Falls.

March 29: After more than 40 years of teaching, coaching and administrating at the college level, Dakota State athletic director Jeff Dittman is retiring April 2. He is a former standout athlete at Faith and NSU. He spent 29 years with the Trojans; he has been the AD at the Madison university since 2012. Dittman has been at the center of the wildly successful Trojans Unite Building Champions campaign which has been raising more than $100 million to redo its athletic facilities. More than half of that has been raised. “Jeff has had a distinctive impact on athletics at Dakota State, both as a coach and as athletics director,” said DSU President José-Marie Griffiths. “We have seen growth in the number of student athletes, the number of programs offered and major upgrades to our facilities.” While DSU looks for a new AD, interim AD duties will be split between former Aberdeen resident and DSU volleyball coach Amy Veenhof and track/cross country coach Anthony Drealan.

March 29: The Creighton men’s basketball team lost 82-75 to Tennessee in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, ending the college career of former SDSU standout Baylor Scheierman (Aurora, NE). Scheierman is the only player in DI history with at least 2,000 (2,233) points, 1,000 (1,256) rebounds, 500 (579) assists and 300 (356) made three-pointers. He also is only the 11th player in DI history to score 1,000 career points at two different schools (SDSU and Creighton). Scheierman also ended with 153 career steals and 29 blocked shots. He played in 72 games with 72 starts for Creighton and he played in 90 games with 61 starts for SDSU with those teams going 117-45 in his career with three NCAA Tournament appearances (5-3 record). Scheierman fouled out of only three games in his college career and he played in 29 states.

March 29-30: The Minnesota State men’s and women’s basketball teams concluded magical seasons by each winning the NCAA DII national championships. Spearfish native and Mavericks’ coach Emilee (Gusso) Thiesse and her women from Mankato finished 32-5 while coach Matt Margenthaler’s men finished 35-2. The last and only other school to win DII basketball national titles in the same year were the Central Missouri State University Mules and Jennies in 1984.

March 30: In the Sioux Falls NCAA Regional, the Boston University men’s hockey team advanced to the Frozen Four by defeating the Minnesota Gophers 6-3 at the Denny Sanford Premier Center. Neither team was whistled for a penalty in the game. The Terriers got big games from three freshmen: Jack Harvey (goal and assist), Shane Lachance (goal and assist) and Macklin Celebrini (three assists). Winning goalie Mathieu Caron made 25 stops.

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.