If you let a team hang around long enough, it can come back to bite  you. Such was the case last Friday night at the armory, when the Custer High School girls basketball team saw a lead it had maintained through the better part of three quarters evaporate, ending in a 45-39 loss to the visiting Rapid City Christian Comets.

“(Rapid City Christian) hanging around worried me, because we were holding the ball (offensively) and weren’t moving it fast enough,”â��Custer head coach Stephanie Ornelas said.

Chad Bryant scored 25 points on 10 of 15 shooting to lead the Custer High School basketball team to its fourth consecutive win last Thursday, as the team traveled to Box Elder and defeated the Douglas Patriots 65-40.

“We shot the ball well again. Chad had a really solid game,” Custer head coach Larry Luitjens said. “We are playing well right now.”

Coach Jared Webster couldn’t contain his pride after Thursday night’s dual against Douglas. The Wildcats defeated the Patriots in a 51-27 match, but it wasn’t the home win that left the ’Cats feeling good, it was the Black Hills Conference championship title they won—something that hasn’t been done since 1974.

“I’m so proud for the kids,” he said. “They’ve been working since summer for this opportunity.”

The long awaited title came after intense matches with high ranked Douglas wrestlers

The Custer High School wrestling team traveled to the Chadron Invitational with three wrestlers placing in the top 10. Ten wrestlers competed, with six making the cut to the second day matches.

“We’re still working on our moves, but we’re making progress as the year goes on,” Coach Jared Webster said.

Chasen Cole (120 pounds) placed fourth, Tanner Eiesland (17) placed third and Billy Alexander (182) placed sixth.

Cody�Martinz hit a running three-pointer as time expired to propel the Custer High School basketball team to a thrilling 50-47 win over the Red Cloud Crusaders Friday night at Red Cloud.

After Red Cloud had tied the game at 47-47 with just under a minute left, Custer took the ball and began to run down the clock, as Red Cloud furiously pressured the ball and trapped, trying to force a turnover. With 24 second left, head coach Larry Luitjens called a time out and set up a play that was designed to go to Chad Bryant. With eight seconds left the team began to run the play, but the pressure was so great Martinz couldn’t get the ball to Bryant, and was forced to heave the ball up over a couple of Red Cloud players.

Heading into last Friday night’s home game against St. Thomas More, Custer head coach Larry Luitjens wanted his team to shake its early-season penchant for slow starts, knowing the team would need four full quarters of basketball to stay with the Cavaliers.

His wish was not granted.

Going into the Philip Invitational Tournament, Coach Jared Webster wanted the kids to have fun wrestling other teams.

“It’s always nice to see other teams,” he said. “And it’s always great to compete in a prestigious meet. Hopefully we can bring home some hardware.” 

Last Thursday night at the armory, the Custer High School girls basketball team was standing on the tracks as the train came through. The St. Thomas�More train, that is.

The visiting and No. 2 ranked Cavaliers wasted little time jumping all over the Wildcats, coming to town and presenting Custer with a 71-17 beat down.

At around the 4:30 mark of the third quarter of the Custer High School girls basketball team’s game against Hill City last Thursday night, Karley Konkol buried a three-pointer for the Wildcats, answering a three that had just been made by Hill City’s Kala McDonald, tying the score at 14-14.

It was the last basket Custer would score for 10 minutes.

Following Konkol’s three-pointer, the Rangers went on a 16-0 run, burying the ’Cats along the way and taking a 43-21 win over Custer in the armory.

Chad Bryant scored 25 points and Chase Glazier added 14 as the Custer High School basketball team used a 19-2 third quarter run to put away the pesky Hill City Rangers 69-36 last Thursday night at the armory.

Bryant did most of his damage in the second half—as did most of the team—becoming more aggressive in attacking the rim after leading by only nine at the half.

Going into the Lyman County Invitational, Coach Jared Webster was looking for his team to finish with high places. Five ’Cats finished in the top five spots helping the team earn sixth place at the invitational.

"I'm very excited for the kids," he said. "They got the chance to compete against others from the state in a very tough competition."

The Wildcats placed sixth with 144 points. Winner finished first with Philip and Spearfish-Lead-Deadwood third.

The Custer High School basketball team concluded its brutal early season schedule last week in Mitchell at the Mike Miller Classic by losing a pair of games.

Last Friday the team was matched up with De LaSalle, Minn., and was never in the game, losing 79-43. The previous day the team hung with the Mitchell�Kernels for three quarters before eventually falling 70-53. The Wildcats faced severe size disadvantages against both teams, as both of their opponents had players that were 6-6 and taller.

Make some baskets, get a win. Sometimes, the game of basketball is as simple as that.

For most of the season so far, the Custer High School girls basketball team has struggled with too many turnovers and too few made baskets. The team corrected one of those mistakes last Friday night at home against Douglas and came away from the game with a 43-32 win.

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.

Coming off two promising showings in their final two games at the Lakota Nation Invitational last weekend, the Custer High School girls basketball team fell back into the turnover funk last Thursday night in Spearfish, losing 55-27.

The Wildcats c

The Custer High School boys basketball team was able to use a 10-0 fourth quarter run to tie last Thursday night’s game against Spearfish with under a minute to go, but the Spartans scored the next six points to put the game away and come away with a 50-44 win over the ’Cats.

Custer got off to a slow start in the game, falling behind early 18-6. As they were in the loss to White River in the championship game of the Lakota Nation Invitational, turnovers were a big factor in the loss, as Custer had 18 turnovers, many at the worst times.

The Custer Wildcats took second place at the Hot Springs Holiday Extravaganza with 179.5 points. Wrestler Dylan Severyn won his 152 weight class match, which gave the ’Cats their 1.5 point finish ahead of third place team Hot Springs. Spearfish won the invitational with 203.5 points. 

This is Severyn’s first tournament win, something that coachâ��Jared Webster is very proud of.

After a rough two first games, the Custer High School girls basketball team rebounded to win its last two games and finish the Lakota Nation Invitational basketball tournament with a 2-2 record.

The girls won their Saturday game over Standing Rock, N.D., 49-39, using a new defensive strategy of pressing and trapping to create 22 Standing Rock turnovers, which led to a number of easy Custer baskets.

The Custer High School boys basketball team fell one game short of repeating as Lakota Nation Invitational basketball tournament champions last weekend in Rapid City, falling to White River, the No. 1 ranked team in the state in Class B, 62-38 in the championship game.

The Wildcats were able to connect on only 33 percent of their shots in the game, while also uncharacteristaclly turning the ball over 23 times, many of which were unforced.

The Custer High School girls team got its season off to a slow start last weekend, losing a pair of Black Hills Conference games in Hill City and Hot Springs.

In Hot Springs the team started out strong, but faded down the stretch in a 51-38 loss. The Bison took control of the game in the third and fourth quarters, aided by Custer’s shooting only 21 percent from the field and committing 29 turnovers.

Cody Martinz and Chad Bryant scored 16 points each to lead the Custer High School boys basketball team to a 54-30 win over the Hot Springs Bison in the ’Cats’ season-opening win last Saturday night in Hot Springs.

“It was the first game, and we played like it was the first game,” head coach Larry Luitjens said. “This early in the year, there are always things you wish you did better.”

The Wildcats competed at the Rapid City Invitational held over the weekend, Dec. 9 - 10. The ’Cats finished in 25th place with 27.5 points. Individual results were unavailable at time of print.

Earlier in the week, the Wildcats defeated the Belle Fourche Broncs in the first home wrestling meet of the season, 48 to 16.

Last winter, the Custer High School girls basketball team started its season 5-1, won the consolation championship at the Lakota Nation Invitational and appeared well on its way to a strong season.

Then the wheels fell off.

The team went on to lose 12 of its next 14 games on the way to a 7-14 record, which included a first-round district loss to Red Clou

The Custer wrestling team placed first at the Custer Wrestling Invitational, earning 147.5 points. In addition to its first place standing, the team also gained perspective on what lies ahead for this season.

“It was good seeing what we need to work on,” coach Jared Webster said.

According to Webster, the team needs to improve on technique and movement after its performance in the Invitational. Mental work also needs to be worked on if the team wants to improve from last season. 

Custer High School senior Trevor Schryvers has been awarded the annual “Spirit of One” Award, given annually to an outstanding senior soccery player who exemplifies the life of Brian Hall, who was killed while mountain climbing on Oregon’s Mt. Hood in 2006.

Schryvers was nominated for the award by Custer High School soccer coach Craig Black. The award is judged in the categories of outstanding athletic ability, leadership, character, sportsmanship, community service and grade point average. Qualifications include maintaining a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, be an all-state caliber, all-around ability player while demonstrating the other aforementioned qualities and being involved in their community.

In the first round of districts, the Custer Wildcats defeated the Red Cloud Crusaders 25-17, 25-21 and 25-19 last Thursday.

“We have been working on serving and passing, the two areas that we still continue to struggle with,” coach Renae Schneider said. “We need to have strong games from all of our players for the game against Hot Springs.”

In order for this to happen, serving needs to be at least 90 percent and passing has to be good to give the hitters the opportunity to hit.