- [Announcer] You're watching a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

(light upbeat music) Major funding for "Play Like a Girl" was provided by the South Dakota High School Activities Association, serving students since 1905.

Information at sdhsaa.com.

And by Northern State University and the friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

And by.

(upbeat music) Thank you.

(basketballs banging) - I think kids are kids, athletes are athletes, basketball players are basketball players.

And it kinda bothers me a little bit when I hear what I'm told that maybe girls can't do.

I don't agree with that.

I think girls can do anything they wanna do.

(upbeat music) - What I like is the basketball coaches didn't treat us like girls' basketball players.

They just treated us like basketball players.

(gentle music) - It certainly teaches you a lot of life lessons.

There's competitiveness, and you've gotta learn to win with grace and learn to lose and still work and still keep your head up, and so you have to learn a lot of lessons through it.

(gentle music) (girls screaming) - These young ladies mature a lot and become a better person and better out in society and gained some confidence in themselves.

(gentle guitar music) (upbeat music) [Announcer] On a fast break (indistinct) puts it up, scores, and a foul.

(crowd screaming) - [Announcer] (indistinct) is brown (indistinct) off the glass.

(basketball banging) (gentle guitar music) - [Man] "Be strong in body, "clean in mind, "lofty in ideals."

James Naismith.

(gentle guitar music) - [Cara] Basketball was invented in 1891 by a college professor named James Naismith.

Basketball competition for women began in March of 1892.

In the earliest part of the 20th century there were more girls attending high school in South Dakota than boys, and girls' basketball programs developed right alongside boys all across the country.

Several restrictions were placed on the girls due to the belief that strenuous exercise would cause permanent physical damage.

- The cultural and social concept even then were that females, it wasn't healthy for them.

There were smaller hearts, and they physically could become diseased.

And so there was always this stigma that physically girls shouldn't be playing basketball.

And then in the early 1900s when they started to put rules down, some people still didn't wanna follow the rules.

- [Cara] Girls played with modified rules, such as passing instead of dribbling, and players had to stay in assigned areas.

Girls playing basketball as part of the athletic activities of South Dakota schools began in the first years of the 20th century.

Sioux Falls and Canton High Schools organized girls' teams during the 1905, 1906 school year.

A Sioux Falls team was organized in spite of the fact that attempts to organize a boys team failed.

Canton and Sioux Falls won two games apiece.

During the 1906-07 season, Sioux Falls played an 11-game girls season, winning 10 games and losing one.

Their only loss was to Luverne, Minnesota, 11 to eight.

At the end of the 1907 season Sioux Falls defeated Aberdeen High School 14 to six.

The team claimed the state championship after the victory over Aberdeen.

The selection of a state championship amongst sports teams began in the first years of the 20th century.

Newspapers and fans corresponded to determine the top teams, and special games were organized to determine the champion.

In many cases, this meant a special train trip by the team's fans to attend the championship game.

(train horn whistling) By 1908 girls were playing basketball all across South Dakota.

Sioux Falls schools held double headers where both boy and girls games were played.

Howard Wood served as both the girls and boys coach.

Irene Mundt, a 1908-09 Sioux Falls girls' team member would later recall, "We could have defeated the boys team that year."

- [Cara] The 1908 Canton team won seven of the eight games they played.

They concluded their season with a train trip to play games in Vermillion and Yankton.

The Canton School yearbook noted that after the Yankton game they were entertained at a private residence.

They were scheduled to board a special freight train back to Canton at 1 a.m.

However, the freight was late and did not leave until 8 a.m. the next morning.

They returned to Canton that evening.

Canton girls' team of 1911-12 won all 12 games that they played.

They claimed the championship of South Dakota at the end of the season.

In the School Annual, team captain, Alice Bergstrom, was asked what she lived for.

Her response was basketball.

Participation in girls' basketball continued to grow and more schools began girls' teams.

Mythical Championship games continued to be held each season with match-ups determined by the press.

In 1916 Vermillion defeated Flandreau for the Mythical Championship.

In 1920, following the end of World War I there was extensive construction of new school buildings.

The new gymnasiums created an environment where more schools could develop basketball programs.

Perhaps nowhere in South Dakota did these new developments in school buildings and programs change a community than in the town of Java in north central South Dakota.

The Java girls' basketball program began in 1920.

Genevieve Fargen was the first coach at Java.

The girls' team initially practiced on an outdoor court and played in the old theater building.

The 1920-21 team won all 15 games they played.

The victories included two wins over a local college team, Eureka Academy.

Java moved into the new and larger school gymnasium for the 1921-22 season.

In January 1922 the girls' team opened the gym with a 51 to five victory over the girls from Cresbard.

In 1922-23, Java won all five of the games they played.

The Java High School newspaper commented that they were only able to play five games because none of the surrounding schools were interested in playing the Java girls.

The Humboldt High School girls began the 1920-21 season by winning their first 15 games, including a 107 to one win over Canistota.

The Humboldt girls continued their winning ways into the 1921-22 season until they were defeated by Garretson 30 to 24.

The Humboldt Journal noted that.

- [Man] "The defeat was more or less a fluke "and was played under rules of which the Humboldt girls "were totally unfamiliar."

- [Cara] Later that season Humboldt defeated Garretson in a rematch and claimed the state title.

Humboldt was to play one game that season.

A game was scheduled in Sioux Falls at the Coliseum on March 17th, 1922, against the Gregory High School girls.

The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader described the game in this manner.

- [Man] "Displaying a remarkable floor game "and basket shooting ability, "the Humboldt girls' team scored a decisive victory "over the Gregory girls last evening, 34 to nine.

"Inasmuch as Gregory held the west river championship, "the game took the aspect of a state championship event, "and attracted a great deal of interest.

"It was indeed unique to bring a girls' team "all the way from the Rosebud for a game of this kind.

"And the enterprise "was a credit to the tournament committee."

- [Cara] Humboldt scoring leaders were forwards Nettie Williams with 21 points and Dorothy Duncan with 13 points.

During the 1922-23 school year a Sioux Falls Girls' City League was organized, and the team at Sioux Falls High School was revived.

The City League was made up of teams from the Woman's Alliance, All Saints School, the YMCA, the Methodists, Sioux Falls College, Augustana College, and Sioux Falls Cathedral High School.

Sioux Falls High School went undefeated in seven games.

At the end of March 1923, Dakota Wesleyan University organized an invitational tournament for girls.

Huron College had developed a similar tournament for boys.

Teams taking part in the tournament were Humboldt, Plankinton, Spencer, Farmer, Scotland, Mt.

Vernon, and Woonsocket.

Humboldt won the invitational championship, winning three games in one day.

Nettie Williams of Humboldt was selected the best all around player, the high point getter for the tournament, and the top point getter for a single game.

The Humboldt girls were awarded a silver cup for their championship.

(crowd cheering) In 1924 Dakota Wesleyan sponsored another year-end tournament.

24 teams vied for the state championship at the Corn Palace.

The well-attended tournament ended with a climactic finish.

Java was reigning undefeated, not only for the season, but in school history.

The first quarter ended with Java up four to three.

At the half Lake Andes led seven to six.

Lake Andes led by four points at the end of the third quarter.

And the two teams were tied 16, 16 to force and overtime.

Java eventually won 20, 16.

The Java girls received an 11-inch engraved gold cup and a $120 scholarship to Dakota Wesleyan University.

Thelma Austin won prizes for scoring the most points in the tournament, 83 in five games, and the most points in a single game, 28.

The 1925 invitational state tournament was held at the Lake Andes High School Auditorium, and was again sponsored by Dakota Wesleyan.

17 teams were able to participate.

They included teams from Flandreau, Lake Andes, Scotland, Murdo, Alexandria, Arlington, Spencer, Vienna, Highmore, Mt.

Vernon, Fairfax, Chamberlain, Bridgewater, Geddes, and Nemo.

Nemo traveled from the Black Hills by train.

Lake Andes, the host team, won the championship over Scotland 16 to 11.

Thelma Austin scored 13 points for Lake Andes.

During the 1925-26 season the Java girls won all 10 regular season games.

This brought their winning streak from the very first game they played in 1920 to 54 games.

The Sioux Falls City League was not organized for the 1925-26 season.

Sioux Falls High School organized a team but did not document their games.

Sioux Falls did not have another girls' basketball team until 1975.

- I was told we occasionally made the mistake of calling 1975 the start of girls' basketball.

And we heard from literally dozens of very elderly women who had played high school basketball in the twenties.

- [Cara] The 1926 state tournament was held at the Mitchell Corn Palace.

For the fourth straight year Dakota Wesleyan University sponsored the state tournament.

The Mitchell Daily Republican co-sponsored the event.

The tournament included teams from Java, Howard, Murdo, Farmer, Miller, Bridgewater, Platte, Herrick, Forestburg, Wagner, Ravinia, Geddes, Olivet, Humboldt, Plankinton, and Lake Andes.

Java entered the tournament having not lost a game in six years.

Murdo was also unbeaten for the season.

There were several Charles mixed basketball conference teams.

Herrick had one loss on the season.

The Mitchell Daily Republican noted that.

- [Man] "Periods in first and second round games "will be shortened in order that "the endurance of the players will not be threatened "for the semi-finals and finals competition.

"Dr. Edith M. Shank made rigid examinations "of all the girl players entered in the tournament.

"Many of the teams brought with them "physician certificates, but Dr. Shank "is making individual examinations of all players.

"Not one girl, however, has been barred from play thus far."

- [Cara] Java was defeated by Howard 15 to nine in the opening game.

This was Java's first loss in six years.

Java later lost a consolation game to Plankinton.

Howard had lost only two games in the last two years.

Wagner led by Thelma Austin, defeated Howard 22, 20 in the finals.

Despite expanding team rosters and successful tournaments, girls were still unable to shake the stigma of being too fragile for the sport of basketball in the mid 1920s.

The concept was spreading and people really enjoyed it.

And then all of a sudden when the depression hit and then the Amateur Athletic Union went on regulation of saying that it's not healthy for women, so everything just kind of stopped.

- [Cara] In November of 1926, the South Dakota High School Athletics Association took action to limit the activities of girls playing basketball.

The association voted to eliminate girls' basketball tournaments and limit the number of dribbles per possession.

In April of 1927, the Java High School newspaper, The Maroon and Gold News, reported, quote, "drastic changes had been made "to girls' basketball rules."

The basketball rules committee established that.

- [Man] "No more will a clever dribbler monopolize the play, "for the new rules limit the dribble to one bounce.

"Hertofore, the number of bounces has been unlimited.

"The change was made to eliminate roughness "and to promote team play "and has been estimated that 70% "of all fouls and violations of the rules "are resultant from the dribble.

"Hereafter, time out will be taken on all fouls.

"A third change forbids the referee "to blow the whistle on jump balls "except at the beginning of periods and after timeout.

"Hertofore, the whistle had sounded after each basket "and added considerably to the confusion of a hot game."

- [Cara] Girls' teams at schools that were not members of the Athletic Association, such as Sioux Falls Cathedral and the Catholic Indian Mission Schools, Stephan, Holy Rosary, St. Francis, and Marty continued to field their girls' basketball teams.

Katharine Drexel chose to personally finance basketball programs at the various Indian Mission Schools because she believed basketball was an inexpensive sport that could be financially feasible at the mission schools.

For schools who were members of the Athletic Association, the ruling was a blow for many teams that eventually disbanded.

- I grew up in Willow Lake, which is a small town north of De Smet, and we did not have any girls' basketball.

I did a lot of shooting of the basketball at home, but we didn't have intramurals or any activity like that.

And I know later the boys coach has told me he wished I had tried out for the boys team, but of course back in those days, I wouldn't have done it.

And yet my mother played basketball for a couple years growing up, but then they stopped basketball.

And so when I went through there was no basketball.

There were some mural teams that played in the 20s, and then intermittently schools would have it.

And when Maurice Hoagland was our superintendent, he was at Murdo for five years, and he had a team and they called them Hoagland's heroes.

I don't know if he ever saw the TV program, "Hogan's Heroes."

(laughing) But he had some outstanding players, girl players.

And in fact, a couple of 'em could have played with the boys.

And so, but then when they were gone, they dropped off again.

So until the statewide program started in about '74.

- [Cara] Some schools chose to continue to let their girls play, creating small pockets of intramural teams throughout the state.

- And scattered throughout the state in the 1920s and 30s and 40s, you could find some places, for example, Artesia, South Dakota, that had some basketball and athletics for women.

Yankton had some intramurals for women.

We interviewed a person who had been here in the 30s, and she was just adamant about the fact that she never got to play competitive basketball.

She only got to be in intramurals.

- [Cara] Frankfort alumni, Jan Meile and Highmore alumni LaVerta Palmer, both played basketball under the new system in the 40s and 50s.

- I was involved in 1946 to 1948.

That's when they started up again.

They started basketball in Frankfort in 1907, girls' basketball, but then it kinda quit during the years.

And then in 1946, they started because we had girls that wanted to do something in athletics.

So they started the basketball program again.

- I played guard, and we only played half court basketball.

The guard stayed on one half and the forwards, there were three guards and three forwards, and the forwards stayed on one half and the guard stayed on the other half.

We won most of our games.

We didn't have a perfect record, but we had more wins than losses.

- Just dribble it once.

Get rid of it.

Then you could throw it over there or I could throw it over there to the forward, too.

It wasn't real exciting (laughing).

I don't know why I was guard.

I was better at guard 'cause I was fast.

'Cause a lotta times they're standing around and you just couldn't touch that ball while they had it in their possession.

But if they threw it, then you could intercept it or whatever it was.

But it was a foul.

- In 1952, we had the best record of all in our league and we felt very honored to get this trophy because they just didn't give many trophies.

And the school were very proud of our team.

- We were so thankful that they let us play.

We played Ashton, Athol, Redfield, Rockham, Orient, Brentford, Tulare, Doland.

Over at the small schools that were around Frankfort.

I don't think it was too heated (laughing).

We were nice (laughing).

- We felt we were very lucky to have a girls' team.

And we were very appreciative of the fact that we did have the girls' team.

- They didn't give us a lot of press coverage.

And I noticed in our annuals and in the school news and everything, the boys, they always had a full report of everything that happened during the game, but the girls it was just who was high point person and how many points they made.

And that was it.

They didn't publicize it very much.

- [Cara] In the 1950s Q.C.

Miles was a superintendent at Gann Valley High School.

Q.C.

would also teach four subjects, coach the boys team, and help start a girls' program.

- I always felt sorry for the girls 'cause there was nothing for them to do in the way of athletics.

So anyway, I started a girls' basketball team.

We had a girls' basketball team all four years I was out there.

Of course, that was when they had the old six girl team, where three guards and three forwards, and you could only play half the court.

We won several teams.

In fact most of the superintendents were older men who had the feeling that girls just didn't have the physical capability to perform and function.

The younger administrators in South Dakota that fought hard to promote girls' athletics.

When we got started in track, they wouldn't let the girls throw the shot.

They were afraid they'd ruin their ability to have children later on in life.

So they had the softball throw and things like that, but that was just the prejudice that had been established by the old line of administrators in the state of South Dakota.

- [Cara] These small pockets of play continued for Activity Association schools, some even forming their own conferences, but it wasn't until the passage of Title IX by the U.S. Congress in 1972, that girls' basketball would move forward.

In 1974, South Dakota adopted the full court game and established that a girls' season be held in the fall to prevent conflict with the boys' gym space.

The first sanctioned season began on September 5th, 1975, - In the late fall of 1975 was the first state girls' basketball tournament, and it was in Aberdeen, and I was the only South Dakota press guy there.

The other papers had decided that the interest wasn't enough.

But after that, I mean, it was a mob scene every tournament, because there were great tournaments.

In the earliest years, as everyone in South Dakota knows, Jefferson High School dominated the small school girls' basketball.

They were across the river from Iowa girls who were playing.

So those girls would get across the river and play some basketball.

And they were far better than anybody else in the state.

- I can't think back without obviously thinking of the Jefferson girls, through the many years.

I think in the first six years of the girls' basketball, I think they won probably four of the five of the state tournament.

So Bridget Ryan from Jefferson, and then later on Katie Dailey, Carla Kitler, all those girls were phenomenal.

- I am originally from Jefferson, South Dakota, and at that time it was Jefferson High School, Now Jefferson Elk Point.

I went to school from 1977 to 1981, and Fred Tibbetts was my basketball coach.

Coach Tibbetts did a great job.

I actually started playing basketball when I was in fifth grade.

He started an intramural program at Jefferson.

There was McCook Lake, North Sioux, and Jefferson, and all the kids ended up going to Jefferson High School, but we did intramurals down at McCook Lake Elementary School.

Every Saturday we would play.

The biggest thing I learned from Fred was his motivation.

He definitely knew how to push the buttons whether it was good or bad.

He had a great knack of finding a player.

He kind of could read the players.

He knew what players could get criticized and which ones could handle it, which ones couldn't.

But I think his biggest thing was the motivation.

If you worked hard, which Fred made sure that we did, then we were successful.

And I think that's why we were successful 'cause he taught us how to work hard.

- [Lisa] Do you know what?

Freddy always had those girls ready to come play, And they were so well coached.

And again, their fundamentals were outstanding.

And so, you have to give credit to Fred Tibbetts and what he did with the Jefferson dynasty and then later on with Roosevelt.

And I think his system of starting the girls young and teaching him those fundamentals, his high expectation of those players, I think just really carried through.

And obviously you can see that in the results and in their seasons and their careers.

- I just love this game.

I love the girls' game.

I'm trying to, I wanna make it very big.

I want girls' basketball to be big time someday here.

I just hope that Jefferson's getting the footsteps on its way.

- [Cara] Coach Tibbetts' early Jefferson team won the first ever girls state tournament in 1975, also winning in '78, '79, and '80.

Clear Lake won the title in 1976, supported by South Dakota Hall of Fame player, Robin Anderson, who finished her four-year career with a total of 2,332 career points.

- [Announcer] Now (indistinct) to Ray.

Her shot in and out, no good.

All alone underneath with the rebound.

Puts it in for Yankton.

- [Cara] In the early years of Class A competition the Yankton Lady Gazelles were dominating the competition with state tournament wins in 1975, '77, '78 and '79.

- It might be true that Yankton won more state tournaments, but you had Jefferson in their class winning state tournaments.

And they had a program.

Pierre, South Dakota had a program.

Washington High developed their program.

While in the meantime, back in '76 and '75, right in that era, a family named Hiemstra moved to Yankton who had a background was playing some girls' basketball back in New York.

- [Announcer] Yankton gets it right back, and Diane Hiemstra broke lose for her 10th point.

It's 59, 59.

- So we had a girl named Diane Hiemstra, and she subsequently has two sisters who played for us.

But Diane Hiemstra was a six foot, six foot one guard, who was an absolutely outstanding shooter from the outside.

At the same time, we had a girl who never played until she was a freshman high school named Lisa Van Goor.

And she was six foot three.

And she did what we talked about with camps.

She played and played and played and made herself quite a player.

Both of those girls played on our teams that won the championships.

Lisa Van Goor and Diane Hiemstra went on to play at the University of Colorado.

Lisa Van Goor, I think is still the all-time leading scorer at the University of Colorado.

(crowd screaming) - [Cara] Not only was Coach Bob Winter leading the girls' team to victory, he was also organizing basketball camps that girls from all across the state could attend.

- Well, you have to give a lot of credit, again, to the people like Bob Winters, who started camps right away.

As soon as the sport was started for girls, he was there, getting them together, again, honing their fundamentals in those camps situations.

Again, the coaches at USD, Dave Martin, Jack Doyle, really pushed it, encouraged the competition.

Fred Tibbetts, again, as I talked about him, he just has done so much for girls' basketball in the state, and just his style and the way he developed his players.

I don't think, I think is unprecedented in South Dakota.

And then you have Dick Hanson came up later, a little later, and he brought, started the Campus Stars, and that was fun to get all the best players in the state together.

- [Cara] The sanctioning of girls' basketball in 1975 meant some players had some catching up to do on their fundamental skills.

- My father, Bruce, was a coach.

He coached at Hurley many years ago and then Freeman Academy.

So I always kinda grew up in the gym, went to his practices, went to all his games.

So that was kinda instilled in me.

I think for a lot of girls that was the first time they touched the ball.

If they didn't experience it within their own family.

- We did a lot of ball handling because basketball started in 1975 at Washington.

Volleyball had already been going for a couple of years, and then we started with the smaller ball.

And so we worked with that and did a lot of drills on ball-handling, sliding, setting screens, rolling off picks, and we worked a lot on the drills because the people coming in from the middle schools had not had any experience with any of that.

We brought out chairs and we brought out ladders that they had to jump and learn to shoot over those.

- I remember many of our sophomore players that couldn't shoot left-hand layups until they, they would have to go to a basket over by themselves and just practice that left-handed layup until they had it now.

So just really it was drilled in the fundamentals at that time.

- A real classic basketball game of girls took place at Washington High School gym.

Jefferson came up and played Washington High School.

(crowd cheering) - I think there was anticipation.

I think the big thing was Washington was this big A school, and we're this tiny little B school, and we had the opportunity to play them.

It was an unusual senior year as it was, but then to be able to play Washington, was number one in class A, we were number one in class B.

We had a winning streak on the line.

So it was more, maybe a more of a nerve-wracking time than it probably was a high anticipation time, probably for us.

- And the one was the Jefferson game where we were undefeated, they were undefeated.

They had a win streak of 60 some games, and they played it at Washington.

And if you're familiar with the old Washington, of course we loved it.

It was called The Dungeon from other schools.

And we'd have to go down in the locker room and it was downstairs and it was even more dungeony.

- I think the biggest memory, and probably not even playing part was, you got out, went out on the court to warm up and basically people were lined up along the sidelines.

So you had basically no room to step out of bounds.

So when we had to take the ball out of bounds, the official would have to say, you need to move over.

And then they would make room for your feet to throw the basketball in.

So that was one of the biggest things I remember.

The old Washington gym had a big stage, had their stage, and that was just packed.

People were sitting everywhere.

- Washington had a good team, but they didn't have the kind of players that Jefferson had yet.

But Washington High ended a long, long win string of Jefferson High School girls, coached by Freddy Tibbetts early on.

Joe Lockwood was the coach at Washington High School.

And he had gathered together some girls who didn't start playing basketball when they were six and seven like girls do now, but they bought into his program and they played basketball well enough to beat Jefferson.

And that was a huge game in South Dakota because it gave the hope to other schools that a dominant school like Jefferson could be beaten.

- I think it was a disappointing loss for us.

I mean, any loss is a disappointing loss, but I didn't think we played probably up to our capability, to let two players basically JoElle Byre and Ann Pancoast dominates their offense.

At that time, I probably didn't think of it that way.

But as a past coach, they really dominated the game and they shouldn't have been able to do that.

- Joe, congratulations on a great win.

In talking to Fred Tibbetts- - [Cara] Under Coach Joe Lockwood the Washington girls broke Jefferson's 67-game winning streak.

The final score was Washington, 88, Jefferson 78.

JoElle Byre led Washington with 40 points and 18 rebounds.

- Well, I just think that when you start becoming a known team and then you start talking about being undefeated and all those type of things, that was one thing our coach just didn't even wanna address.

We don't talk about that.

We just go out and play and we don't worry about what everybody's saying.

- And he was very understanding.

He would let the girls be silly.

And yet when he ran drills they listened and they ran drills hard.

And after every drill, he'd throw out candy to 'em.

So I'm surprised that we won very many because they eat a lotta candy that year, I know that.

But no, he just has a way with him, and joking, and he took the burden on himself.

It never would go back onto the players.

You couldn't have asked for a better gentleman and the knowledge of basketball.

- And I'll tell ya, I wanna give all of the credit to Fred Tibbetts.

He instigated the game, he set it up.

He's a gentleman of the game, and we're darn fortunate to win.

And I thank God that we were hitting the way we were because those kids never quit.

They played it right 'til the end.

(upbeat music) - [Cara] By the mid 80s girls' programs were off and running.

Coach Jim Holwerda of Brookings had a squad of girls that was attracting national attention, including standouts, Amy Mickelson and Renae Sallquist.

- Well, a lot of the players that we probably remember are the ones that were a couple, three years ahead of us, and we really looked up to 'em.

One in Brookings was Kris Holwerda, Coach Holwerda's daughter.

And she was several years ahead of us, but ended up going and playing division one basketball and was a very good high school player.

And I remember going and watching her.

And then we played against JoElle Byre.

I played against her my freshman year, and she was a senior.

And I remember her being very good.

I remember the Peer post players 'cause when we were sophomores, 'cause I didn't go to Brookings until I was a sophomore, and they had a couple of twin towers, so to speak, that were six two, Karen Hasek, Tara Tesser.

Watertown had Amy Pfleger.

Lincoln had Michelle Welder.

And like she said, we kind of only remember the older girls that we looked up to.

And that that point were obviously probably better than we were.

And then, we remember the post players more than we probably do the guards, but Steph Schueler played for Lincoln.

She was a year younger than us and ended up going to Iowa.

- Yankton always had good players.

- Yeah, Yankton always had a really good program.

- [Bob] Brookings is another story, to me, that kinda matches what I've said before.

They started girls athletics a little bit before everybody else.

So they'd had track and some volleyball and so forth, and I think maybe their girls, perhaps, got a little bit of jump on people, but they ended up with some girls, Paula Kenafec and Renae Stallquist and Amy Mickelson.

I mean, these are just tremendous players.

I mean were talkin' players that are division one players.

- [Cara] Amy Mickelson and Renae Sallquist received National High School Prep All American Athlete in their careers at Brookings.

The 1984 Brookings team finished in the USA National Top 20 Poll at number six.

The 1985 team placed in the poll at number three.

In 1985, Coach Jim Holwerda was selected as the USA National Coach of the Year.

Brookings went 48 and oh during their undefeated seasons and won two state championships.

- [Announcer] Renae Stallquist.

(crowd cheering) Amy Mickelson.

- It was Lincoln our junior year and Yankton our senior year, yeah.

But we didn't, we had a really good team.

Also, we had the opportunity to go to some national basketball camps, which, again, Coach Holwerda facilitated all of this to get us that exposure.

And I think when these national basketball camps began for us is when the rest of the nation took note of our team.

The people that did that rating, did the ratings in the USA Today, were the same guys that had these camps.

So they got to see us as played firsthand.

And they're the ones that actually rated us.

So all of those opportunities that were facilitated by our coach and our parents kind of led all of us to that point to have that rating.

- [Announcer] Pass inside to Mickelson, Mickelson takes a nice little swing, a little half hook.

- When Renae and Amy were sophomores, the very first year, we started getting inquiries, recruitment.

'Cause I had 10 video tapes that I kept up to date, game after game after game that I was sending out to about 75 different schools (indistinct).

They got more information they could've ever gotten because of recruitment.

That particular move gave me the honor of USA Today Coach of the Year, 'cause that's chosen by college coaches.

After the girls' senior year, I mean, we had huge boxes, and we presented it to 'em, and then they started taking their visitation and it worked out fine.

But originally it was very difficult because the college coaches thought I was trying to protect them for maybe going to K State, where I played, or hiding em for this and that.

But they soon learned that I was not, and I was very open with it, and it worked well for us.

That'd be very difficult to do today.

(crowd cheering) - [Cara] In 1985, girls' basketball was separated into three divisions, Class double A, Class A, and Class B.

The mid eighties showcased a number of high scoring players, including Laurie Wohlleber of Summit, who established a new all time scoring record of 2,490 career points.

Dana Nielson of Armour scored 2,310 career points, but it's a player from Wakonda who achieved the all time point title in 1991.

(crowd cheering) - Wakonda's a small school here near Yankton, had Becky Flynn and a whole series of players who were just simply outstanding.

So, it's pretty easy, I think, to say well, a big school had the best players.

I'm not so sure about that.

- [Cara] From 1986 through 1991, Becky Flynn scored 3,268 for the state career point record.

- My dad actually got me into it.

He was coaching at the time.

He, since I could remember, so, from the time I was four years old, I was following him to practices and to the gym.

And he allowed me to be the team manager when I became in fourth grade.

And so I was the team manager from fourth through sixth grade.

And as the manager you got to practice with the high school team.

And so that helped a lot in the development, I guess, of my skills throughout and got me interested in basketball.

I had a great experience in high school.

I guess the biggest memory I have from high school is the winning streak, which was 101 games in a row.

And if you look back and ask me what my favorite memory was it would have be, the 100th game was a huge one, but they were all big.

I mean the 68 was big because at that time that was the record.

I think it's more looking back now, I'm like, wow, that was a lot of pressure, a lot of stress, but I think at the time, and I don't know if it's, I think our coaches were really good, and I think we must have had really good parents at the time about not making it be a huge deal at the time.

'Cause I think it could have been overwhelming to any high school kid, but at the time we were just having fun and playing ball and doing something we loved and doing it as our little family, as we called it.

(crowd cheering) - [Cara] In 1989, Pine Ridge had their first girls' championship, when the Lady Thorpes were led to the championship game by SuAnne Big Crow, who scored 67 points in a single game and 761 points overall in the 1989 season.

(crowd cheering) - Really had some fantastic girls.

There was never a girls' team that ever made it to the championship game, and it was being, and that was played in Sioux Falls (indistinct).

So there was a lot of excitement and pride, and not only by the people here from Pine Ridge, but for all of Indian Country.

There was a lot of pride there, that our girls could be successful like that.

- [Cara] SuAnne Big Crow scored 2,541 points during her high school career.

- [Announcer] Rebound knocked around.

Big Crow (indistinct).

(cheering) That is the ballgame.

SuAnne Big Crow at the buzzer.

Pine Ridge wins it 42, 40.

- [Cara] In 1992, SuAnne was killed in a car accident on her way to the Miss Basketball Banquet.

Every year the Spirit of Su Award is presented to an outstanding senior player who meets these five criteria, athletic ability, sportsmanship, leadership, character, and academic ability.

(upbeat music) (crowd cheering) Another West River basketball player was making a name for herself.

Becky Hammon of Rapid City Stevens was named South Dakota Miss Basketball as a junior and as a senior was voted the South Dakota Player of the Year after averaging 26 points, four rebounds, and five assists per game.

- My senior year, we had very quality teams.

Mitchell was an undefeated team, and Mitchell was the era when I was in high school.

And, but even my freshman year in high school, we had a lot of good seniors that I could learn from, sophomore.

So I really, my learning curve, like I learned and improved every year, not just playing other competition, but from playing against older, more experienced players in high school.

- [Cara] Hammon went on to Colorado State University where she broke a number of records.

Her Jersey, number 25, was retired in 2004.

- [Announcer] There's Becky with the ball right now.

(whistle blowing) she can make it.

- Moves like that (indistinct).

- The offensive skills of Becky Hammon, those kids can flat out shoot jump shots.

Well, I don't care what state you're from, they can play and they can play division one level.

- [Cara] In class B during the mid 90s Baltic High School was dominating, winning state championships in 1995, '96, '98, 2001, and 2003.

Wagner won the Class A championships in 1997 and '98.

Mandy Koupal of Wagner scored 2065 total points during her high school career.

Mandy's seasoned field goal percentages of 75.3% in 1997 and 76.4% in 1998 are number one and two on the all-time national record list for field goal percentages in a season.

Jenny Bridge of Hanson is also in the national record books.

From 2000 to 2003, Jenny made 266 of 535 three-point goals, a percentage of 49.7.

Sioux Falls Roosevelt basketball dominated the class double A ranks from 1997 through 2001, winning consecutive championships during this time.

They also set an all-time record for consecutive wins.

Roosevelt won 107 regular season games and four additional during a national tournament.

Coach Fred Tibbetts was at the helm of the Riders victorious streak through this era.

On April 14th, 2007, Coach Tibbetts was inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame for his success as a girls' basketball coach.

In his 18 seasons at Jefferson and 11 seasons at Roosevelt, Coach Tibbetts record was 551 wins and 101 losses.

He had seven unbeaten seasons and won 11 state titles.

(crowd cheering) (upbeat music) From 1976 through 2001 girls' basketball had been a fall sport.

In 2002 due to pending litigation, the Activities Association voted to move girls' basketball to a winter sport to better align the season with other states.

(crowd murmuring and cheering) On February 13th, 2007, Jill Young of Mitchell Christian broke Becky Flynn-Jensen's all-time scoring record.

- It was really neat.

I didn't think she was comin'.

People were asking me and I was like, no, but it was really cool, and totally surprised me.

And I know she was a great player so it was a great honor to meet her and have her present the ball.

- [Cara] For 16 years Becky held the record of 3,268 career points.

During Mitchell Christian's last regular season game of the year, Jill Young scored 26 points and set the new scoring record at 3,281 points.

Since its reintroduction into the Athletic Association in 1975, girls' basketball has grown by leaps and bounds.

(crowd cheering) - [Bob] Well (indistinct) because girls, when they started, probably had somewhat limited dribbling skills, passing skills, and so would not be quite as good full court.

However, I gotta tell ya, from the 70s to the 80s there was a huge change.

- [Cara] The fundamental skills that had been lost decades ago have come rebounding back, and successful college programs have taken notice.

- We do recruit a lotta local players here at SDSU, and that's important to us.

It's something I think that we certainly don't just go out with the idea that we're only gonna take local girls, but at the same point, that's kind of our priority.

And when we first look at things to see if there are good players in the area, and that's a priority for us to try to get those players to come to SDSU and stay close to home.

- People always ask me, "Well, what's there to do in South Dakota?"

And I say, "We play sports.

"That's what we do in South Dakota."

And I think the rich tradition that South Dakota has at the professional ranks, if you look at college athletes that we've put out of this state, is incredible, for how many people we have in South Dakota.

- Maybe it's the culture.

I think sports, high school sports are a really big deal in South Dakota, and especially in small towns.

I mean, a lot of times they kinda rally around that.

And maybe that was one of the reasons for the quick success of it.

People put, it was high priority to them.

- [Cara] The athletes that played through those first years of sanctioned girls' basketball see more than just changes in technique, but in commitment levels, too.

- When I was growing up, we never had summer teams to play with and travel.

And so that has been really boom for the girls that they can have an AAU team or a traveling team to travel year long.

And so, again, I think that's really increased their ability to get college scholarships.

And I think it's a little more serious now than it was when we were growing up.

- And that's another thing that's changed so much is the time commitment for coaches and athletes.

It's a lot.

They're expected to be, like we talked about a little bit, but still, even the coaches are there almost every day with open gym in the summer, in the weight room, planning team camps.

They spend a lot of time also, where I know when I was playing our coach, I don't think he probably stepped foot in the gym in the summer.

Not a bad thing, but I don't think anybody did.

- From the big ball to going to the smaller ball, going to a little bit bigger ball, and then adding the three point line.

Thank God they didn't change it, 'cause just look at the SDSU women.

My gosh, how they're competing with these big D one schools.

And a lot of us wouldn't have ever had the opportunity to, look how many people have gotten college education paid for because they've had the opportunity to play sports in college.

So without having high school, and them taking basketball away, or any sport away from the women would have been really tragic.

- [Bob] Now, I'm sure we still have some people who would say, oh I maybe would pick and choose and I'll go to a boys' game instead of a girls' game because it's more exciting.

Oh, and I would answer, well, maybe you see a boy dunk the basketball.

but you might see a girl with way better skills that perhaps shooting the three point shot.

(crowd cheering) - [Cara] The myth of athletics being harmful for girls has not only been disproven, but numerous benefits of sports participation have been identified over the last 30 years.

- Why are they playing basketball?

Why are they playing volleyball?

And they don't see the big picture.

The big picture is not the sport.

Big picture is what are you getting out of the sport?

- The fact that they're growing up with that mindset that women can play professional sports is way different than the mindset I grew up with where there was no women's sports.

So I think the mindset is being retrained that women can play.

It's not bad if women sweat.

It's like, you can get out there and work hard and be every bit of an athlete on the court.

And when you step off the court be a woman.

So I think you can definitely define both roles.

- Well, I think the number one thing is they learn the importance of teamwork, which you're gonna have to have throughout your career, whether you're in the workforce, or whatever you end up doing, you're gonna have to work with other people.

And I think it teaches that.

- Probably the most obvious advantage, to me, is self-confidence.

And especially for people, girls who are tall, like we were.

To be six foot two in high school wasn't always easy, but we had the chance to play basketball and use it to our advantage.

- Sports only instills, I think confidence in girls as they meet their goals and take on new challenges.

And I think that carries on into their academics, into their just regular life.

- [Cara] Girls' basketball is a sport that is ever evolving, but a common thread has weaved its way through decade after decade of great South Dakota girls' teams.

- [Bob] And I think in South Dakota, we have developed players.

And then this is my being prejudice, of course, but I think South Dakota has a work ethic that's a little better than a lot of other states.

- And I did feel like my days at Wakonda definitely prepared me for what I learned in college.

I mean I always felt like I was ahead of the other freshmen as far as knowing what was going on, ball handling, dribbling, defensive principles, and that type of thing.

- Well, I think they're hardworking kids, and that's something we always look for.

We want people who want to excel, and not just on the court, but in the classroom and the community.

(upbeat music) - [Cara] The enduring work ethic and strong fundamental skills South Dakota girls' teams have boasted for generations are exactly why here, in the Heartland, it's important to play like a girl.

- [Announcer] Major funding for "Play Like a Girl" was provided by the South Dakota High School Activities Association, serving students since 1905.

Information at sdhsaa.com.

And by Northern State University, And the friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

And by.

(upbeat music) - Thank you.

(upbeat music)