South Dakota
Sophomores lead Tea Area boys basketball to gritty win over O’Gorman
Watch Tea Area boys basketball in postgame interview
Watch as Tea Area’s Blake Lundin and Mitch Grant chat with Argus Leader sports reporter Paul Cifonelli after the Titans’ road win over O’Gorman.
Things didn’t look great coming out of halftime for the Tea Area boys basketball team, and O’Gorman made a point to shut off the Titans’ star juniors, Gavin Shawd and Grifin Wiebenga.
Sophomores Mitch Grant and Blake Lundin stepped up to the plate, helping author a 15-8 third that put Tea Area in front for good in a 65-61 win over O’Gorman on the Knights’ home floor.
“At the defensive end, we really just locked in and collapsed the paint and they didn’t really know what to do,” Lundin said.
Not only did the defense shut down the Knights, but Grant scored eight big points with a pair of threes and Lundin had a bucket and commanded lots of attention in the paint.
“I just think we started working as a team really well,” Grant said. “Griff and Gavin started to get in rhythm. I hit a couple big shots. We just play so well together when we get in stride, and when we get in stride it’s hard to stop.”
Tea Area closed out the game without forfeiting the lead, building it to as big as 52-41 early in the fourth. The Titans then had to grind their way to the finish, just like they did the entire first half.
“We talk a lot about taking punches,” Tea Area head coach Drew Weber said. “We don’t play very deep. When you play five or six guys most of the game, it’s hard to play good basketball for 32 minutes. We knew that O’Gorman can play really well and they did in that first quarter. We couldn’t guard worth a hoot in the first quarter, and we took a punch there.”
This young Titans team has learned how to take a punch, though, and dished one back when things mattered most on their 14-0 run between the end of the third and beginning of the fourth.
“That’s kind of been our MO in a lot of these games,” Weber said. “You take some punches here and there, then you throw one back with a 10-0 run, a 12-2 run, something like that.”
Tea Area is now 10-3 and in the midst of its best start since opening 12-3 in the 2022-23 season. It’s been led by two juniors — Shawd and Wiebenga — and the two sophomores, and those guys have used defeat as fuel for improvement.
The last two losses were an 82-55 defeat to Sioux Falls Roosevelt on Jan. 16, and a 62-60 loss to unbeaten Sioux Falls Lincoln on Jan. 31.
“The Roosevelt game hurt, and I feel like the score doesn’t do it justice,” Grant said. “That put a big dagger in us. That Lincoln game, it just hurt us more which helped us this game with energy and stuff.”
“That Lincoln game, that hurt,” Lundin said. “We probably played the best we’ve ever played and coming into this game, I think we knew they’re a top, competitive team. I think we all played together.”
Those losses have helped the Titans up their focus in practice, and the results of that focus have shown in their road win over Mitchell, close loss to Lincoln and road win over O’Gorman.
“Before the Lincoln game, we knew we really had to try at practice,” Grant said. “Practice just got better. Even our scout team started to step up and give us better looks. There’s days where the scout team is playing 10 times better than us. They’re key to our success.”
This Tea Area team thrives on its tough mentality and youthfulness. The Titans have showed that time and time again this season, and are anticipating more chances to prove their mettle with games left against Sioux Falls Jefferson, Sioux City East, Harrisburg, Brandon Valley, Sioux Falls Washington and Marshall.
“I’ve got a tough group of kids, that’s for sure,” Weber said. “Mental toughness in that game really showed.”
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Students at South Dakota Mines heard Wednesday from retired four-star general Maryanne Miller about her journey to the highest ranks of the U.S. military.
Miller is a retired four-star U.S. Air Force general. She is the only member of the Air Force Reserve ever to be promoted to this level.
She spoke about finding greatness and living a life of fulfillment. Her stories came from her time in the Air Force and as a volunteer for Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity.
“We so much get focused on what is our next step in life, what’s the next career move, how do we make ourselves better in our career, and we forget about how do we make ourselves better as a human being,” Miller said. “Because they have to go tandem. If it’s not tandem, you’re going to get off track.”
Miller was commissioned in 1981 and rose through the ranks before becoming a four-star general in 2018. She was the only woman serving as a four-star officer in the military at the time. She retired in 2020 after serving for almost 40 years.
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South Dakota
USDA to offer distaster assistance to South Dakota agriculture producers impacted by winter storms
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering financial and technical assistance to South Dakota farmers and livestock producers who may have been impacted by the recent winter storms.
“I encourage impacted producers to contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure, and livestock losses and damages.” said Richard Fordyce, Production and Conservation Under Secretary.
FSA’s Emergency Conservation Program and Emergency Forest Restoration Program can assist landowners with financial assistance to restore damaged land and conservation structures or forests.
“Our staff will work one-on-one with landowners to make assessments of the damages and develop methods that focus on effective recovery of the land.” said Jessica Michalski, Acting NRCS State Conservationist in South Dakota.
For more information about the disaster assistance program, click here.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, left, and Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen unveil a plaque for retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams in the Hall of Honor at the Capitol in Pierre on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) — There’s a new name in the South Dakota Hall of Honor at the state Capitol building.
One-hundred-year-old South Dakota native and retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams was celebrated at a Wednesday ceremony where a plaque honoring him was unveiled, although Williams did not attend.
“In spite of being outnumbered and facing incredible danger, Captain Williams engaged the enemy with courage and skill,” said Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden. “Our state has always had a strong tradition of service, and Captain Williams is the very best of that tradition.”
President Donald Trump awarded Williams the Medal of Honor, the country’s highest military honor, at the State of the Union address earlier this year. The medal honors actions by Williams that had been classified for decades.
“His story was secret for over 50 years, he didn’t even want to tell his wife, but the legend grew and grew,” Trump said during the speech in February. “But tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves.”
On Nov. 18, 1952, over Korean coastal waters during the Korean War, then-Lt. Williams, from Wilmot, South Dakota, led three F9F Panthers against seven Soviet MiG-15s. He disabled three enemy jets and damaged a fourth.
The Soviet jets, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, were “superior to the F9F in almost every fashion.” The mission was the only direct overwater combat between U.S. Navy fighters and Soviet fighters during the Cold War.
Williams, one of 11 Medal of Honor recipients from South Dakota, now lives in California. The Hall of Honor at the South Dakota Capitol is located in the hallway that visitors enter immediately after going through security.
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