History Favors One Team In Class AA Girls State Basketball Tournament
11 South Dakota Class AA basketball championships have been combined between the eight teams in the field this year with one of them securing seven of them.
Throughout the late 90s into the 2000s, the Roosevelt Rough Riders dominated Class AA Basketball. Roosevelt won seven Class AA titles between 1997-2006 (97, 98, 99, 00, 01, 05, 06). It has been quiet since that point with the Rough Riders not appearing in a championship game since that run, but they are looking to change that this season. David Maxwell's squad enters the tournament as the second seed after a 17-6 campaign.
Outside of Roosevelt, championships have been hard to come by for the other schools in the tournament. Only four other teams that are in this year's field have won a championship. Pierre, O'Gorman, Brandon Valley, and Aberdeen Central will be looking to add hardware to their trophy cases.
Then there are three that are still waiting to experience a Class AA championship.
Harrisburg has come a long way under head coach Nick Mayer in Class AA since the transition in 2014. The Tigers are on an impressive run on tournament appearances with this season being their 5th in a row. Harrisburg won a Class A Championship in 2013, but have yet to reach the title game in Class AA. That can change this year as Mayer's group posted a 21-1 season record (regular season + districts) and snatched the top seed.
Rapid City Stevens and Rapid City Central have yet to win a championship in any class. Stevens has appeared in a state tournament 25 times and was a runner up in the 1975 Class A championship game, and again in the 2010 Class AA title game. Rapid City Central has never appeared in a championship game over any class. They have made 20 state tournament appearances since 1981, and their best finish is 3rd in 2010.
The 2017 Class AA Girls Basketball State Tournament begins on Thursday in Rapid City. Here is a full history breakdown for each team. Note: appearances do not count this year.
Aberdeen Central *Defending Champions*
- 24 appearances
- 1-2 in championship games
- 1-2 in Class AA championship games
- Last title: 2016
Brandon Valley
- 12 appearances
- 1-1 in championship games
- 1-1 in Class AA championship games
- Last title: 2011
Harrisburg
- 4 appearances (1 A, 3 AA)
- 1-0 in championship games
- 0-0 in Class AA championship games
- Last title: 2013 (Class A)
Pierre TF Riggs
- 22 appearances
- 2-4 in championship games
- 1-3 in Class AA championship games
- Last title: 1991
Rapid City Central
- 20 appearances
- 0-0 in championship games
- 0-0 in Class AA championship games
- Last title: N/A
Rapid City Stevens
- 25 appearances
- 0-2 in championship games (Loss in 1976 Class A)
- 0-1 in Class AA championship games
- Last title: N/A (Last championship game appearance: 2010)
O'Gorman
- 19 appearances
- 1-4 in championship games
- 1-4 in Class AA championship games
- Last title: 1995
Roosevelt
- 21 appearances
- 7-2 in championship games
- 7-2 in Class AA championship games
- Last title: 2006