Big Crow leads Pine Ridge into state 'A' tourney

By Jeff Easton, Journal Sports Writer

RAPID CITY -- Laura Big Crow's nose for the basketball resulted in a state Class A tournament berth for Pine Ridge.

The Lady Thorpes' 5-foot-11 center scored 24 points, pulled down 18 rebounds and blocked five shots as Pine Ridge upset Todd County 70-50 to claim the Region 7A championship Thursday night at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

The amazing thing is that Big Crow did much of her damage by getting to the offensive glass while saddled with two or three Falcons much of the night. Her eight offensive rebounds resulted in 12 points.

"She's faced that all year," Lady Thorpes coach Lyle "Dusty" LeBeau said. "We practice with three girls on her."

The victory gives Big Crow a chance to show her skills at next week's state "A" tournament in Aberdeen.

"I've never been there before, so it's pretty exciting," said Big Crow, whose team lost to Little Wound in last year's Region 7A title game.

While Big Crow was a force inside, it took some timely 3-point shooting for Pine Ridge to distance itself from Todd County, which came into the game ranked No. 9.

The Lady Thorpes held a 24-22 lead at halftime and took a 28-24 lead when Big Crow put back a missed shot. Sunni Busch hustled down floor after breaking Pine Ridge's press to get a basket and foul. Her free throw to complete the 3-point play made it a 28-27 ballgame with 5:28 left in the third quarter.

It was as close as the Falcons would get to the lead the rest of the way.

Christy Webber, who finished with 15 points, struck from beyond the 3-point arc. After a Vicki Piper bucket, Deeanna Big Crow drained another 3 to run Pine Ridge's lead to 36-27 with 31/2 minutes left in the third stanza. Another Webber 3-pointer made it 41-31.

At the other end, Todd Country struggled to generate much offense. The looks were there for the Falcons, but the ball wouldn't fall.

"Offensively, we weren't on tonight," said Todd County coach Chuck Wilson, who got 19 points from Busch.

It didn't help that Busch picked up three early fouls, all while trying to slow Laura Big Crow near the basket.

"It's really changes our whole team when she's out. She's so good with the ball penetrating," Wilson said. "When we lost that, we had a lot of people standing around."

Busch stroked a 3-pointer from the left wing to get Todd County within 44-38 with 31.9 seconds to go in the third quarter, but Laura Big Crow answered with a 3 of her own to send Pine Ridge into the quarter break up 47-38.

The Lady Thorpes lead never went under 10 points again.

"We played good defense," said LeBeau, crediting his team' hustle during the second half. "We got to a lot of balls."

Now it's off to the state Class A tournament for LeBeau and the Lady Thorpes, who were the state Class A champs back in 1989.

"We think our chances are as good as anybody's," the Pine Ridge coach said.

"I'm happy for Laura. Now the whole state can see her play."

The state "A" tournament begins next Thursday at Aberdeen's Barnett Center.

Pine Ridge 13 24 44 70

Todd County 13 22 38 50

Pine Ridge-Layne LeBeau 0 4-4 4, Robin Webber 3 0-0 6, Amy Pond 0 1-2 1, Christy Webber 6 0-0 15, Deeanna Big Crow 3 0-0 8, Lucy Blue Legs 1 0-0 2, Vicki Piper 4 2-3 10, Laura Big Crow 8 7-13 24. Totals 25 14-22 70.

Todd County-Alex Hacker 1 2-4 4, Tia Mcclockey 1 1-2 4, Char Wilson 4 0-0 9, Melissa LaPointe 2 2-2 6, Steph antman 4 0-0 8, Sunni Busch 3 11-13 19. Totals 15 16-21 50.

Three-point goals-Pine Ridge 6 (C. Webber 3, D. Big Crow 2, L. Big Crow), Todd County 3 (McCloskey,