By Ryan Deal 

605 Sports

MITCHELL — On Dec. 2, 1994, the Corn Palace magic was alive and well for the Mitchell High School girls basketball team. 

On that Friday night, the Kernels outlasted Becky Hammon and Rapid City Stevens in a Class AA girls basketball semifinal thriller. The 36-35 overtime decision was capped off by Erin Olson’s buzzer-beater, punctuating a classic 30 years ago at an electric Corn Palace.

“We had the magic of the Corn Palace with us that night,” said former Mitchell Kernel Nancy (Ommen) Heldberg. “We needed something and I honestly think the Corn Palace and our home crowd was a big contributing factor.”

The Kernels needed the Corn Palace magic to offset Hammon, a magician with the basketball in her own right. Hammon, who later played in the WNBA, treated South Dakota fans to a glimpse into the future that night.  

“It was a special game to watch her play,” Olson said. “You talk about a player in the zone and the things she went on to do. It was just a small glimpse as a high school athlete of just the kind of special player she was. That was something that will always stand out to me, is the phenomenal play that she had.”

Hammon, a 5-foot-6 point guard, was simply unstoppable against the Kernels. She finished 12-of-19 from the field, 2-of-3 at the 3-point line and scored 29 of her team’s 35 points. In addition to her array of dazzling shots, Hammon added five steals and four rebounds. 

“I can remember her not only doing the scoring, but she was an amazing passer and the things she could do on the floor was unbelievable — especially at a high school level,” Heldberg said.

Hammon netted all 12 of Stevens’ points in the first quarter, outscoring the Kernels by two points. She tossed in 17 points at halftime, giving the Raiders a 19-16 lead at the break. 

“It was just one of those epic back-and-forth kind of games,” Olson said. “It was David vs. Goliath and she had this mammoth game. Her team honestly had done enough to win and then we were able to squeak out a win.”

It wasn’t until midway through the third quarter that another Raider scored a field goal. Hammon’s teammates made only 2-of-13 field goals and 2-of-6 free throws. 

“Becky Hammon was phenomenal,” Olson added. “I am looking over at coach (Gary) Munsen and going ‘I don’t know what you want me to do? I am guarding her 10-feet out from the 3-point line and she’s knocking it down.’ ” 

The Kernels led 24-23 after the third quarter and it was 30-30 after regulation. But the Raiders almost pulled off the upset in regulation. 

As time ticked down in regulation, Hammon drove underneath the hoop and threw a pass to teammate Heidi Erickson, who missed an open shot. 

It set the stage for Olson’s heroics. 

Hammon, who was an 80% free-throw shooter, stepped to the line with six seconds left and the Raiders clinging to a 35-34 advantage. 

“I wasn’t expecting her to miss it,” Heldberg said. “But I knew that if she did our only chance was to get the rebound.”

Heldberg, who finished with 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds, then collected the biggest board of the night. Hammon did the unthinkable and missed the front end of bonus free throws, bouncing toward Heldberg and Stevens post player Jody Riherd.

“Her and I kind of battled inside the whole game,” said Heldberg, who is now an echocardiographer in Le Sueur, Minnesota. “I remember her standing next to me and just thinking I have to get this rebound.”

Heldberg, a 6-foot post player, corralled the rebound and flipped a pass to Olson, who raced down the court as time ticked down. Munsen, who was Mitchell’s legendary basketball coach, opted not to call a timeout. 

“Muns was right in front of me,” Olson recalled. “ ‘Do we call a timeout? Are we not calling a timeout? I am just going to the hole until somebody tells me to do something different.’ It just felt like in some ways the basketball instincts kick in.”

Olson, who finished with 14 points, then hit the biggest shot of the night. The 5-foot-10 guard weaved down the court, drove into the lane and hit the game-winner as the horn sounded. 

“It was like how do we get it up the floor and get a good shot up,” Olson said. “I got a decent look and I was able to knock that shot down.”

After that, it was a madhouse at the Corn Palace.  

“It was mayhem,” Olson said. “I hit the bucket and I think I ended up on my knees and then it was like a pile-on. I was at the bottom of the pile. Everyone is super excited. I was not enjoying myself at the bottom of the pile. I was super pumped to win, but also this is a little freaky.”

Currently, students are not allowed to storm the court after games. But that wasn’t the case in 1994, and the Kernel student section swarmed onto the floor. 

“The student section, which was right there on the court, was completely emptied,” Heldberg recalled. “I remember looking over to the seats and I don’t think there was one person left sitting. Everybody was standing and screaming. It was chaos.”

For Olson, it was also a shot at redemption. As a freshman, she missed a similar shot at the Corn Palace in the state championship, as the Pierre Governors hung on for a two-point win. 

“It was pretty devastating as a freshman to have an opportunity like that and to not come through for your teammates,” said Olson, who is now a principal at Bruce Randolph School in Denver, Colorado. “To be able to come full circle and then win a state title our senior year at the Corn Palace along with our teammates, who we grew up playing basketball with, and to be at home was one those opportunities you dream about.”

Heldberg was also on the runner-up team in 1991, and said it was special to see her senior classmate get another shot at glory.   

“Nobody held it against her, and nobody blamed her or anything like that,” Heldberg said. “I know she had a lot of pressure on herself for that. So it was good to see her redeem herself.”

After the chaos subsided against Stevens, the Kernels still had more work to do. The Kernels were set to face Yankton in the state championship and were coming off a runner-up finish in 1993.   

“I was pumped and the crowd was pumped,” Olson said. “It was an amazing finish, and yet from my standpoint, and I think from our teammates, we still had one more game to win in order to finish the job to achieve the goal we had set at the beginning of the year.”

The next night, the Kernels finished the job and defeated Yankton 42-32 in front of 2,500 fans. It completed a 23-0 season and a 68-1 stretch over three seasons. 

“We enjoyed the win that night,” said Heldberg, who played college basketball at Mount Marty. “The next morning we had a shootaround and it was back to business and we focused on Yankton and Munsen helped us with that. He didn’t let you celebrate too long. He would get you going on the right track pretty quickly. It was a job to do the next night and we went out and did it.”

Olson, Heldberg and Hammon were Class AA first-team all-staters that season. Hammon averaged 26.3 points per game as a senior and later starred at Colorado State University. Olson played her first season at the University of Wyoming, before transferring to the University of Minnesota. 

During their freshman seasons, Hammon and Olson faced off in conference action. They also later played against each other overseas. 

Hammon, of course, went onto WNBA stardom. After playing for the New York Liberty and San Antonio Silver Stars, Hammon embarked on a coaching career. Hammon, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023, is currently the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces.

“She had a phenomenal career as a player. She’s having a phenomenal career as a coach,” Olson said. “It’s just exciting to see somebody you played against and somebody that you have deep respect for to have the success. There’s a lot of amazing basketball players that have come out of South Dakota and a lot of great basketball minds in South Dakota. It’s fun to see that represented on that national, international stage that she’s done for so many years.”

Mitchell 36, Rapid City Stevens 35 (OT)

Mitchell (22-0): Erin Olson 7-9 0-3 14, Jodie Dierks 1-4 0-0 2, Nancy Ommen 1-9 8-8 10, Kelly Musick 3-12 0-0 6, Susie Sudrla 1-3 0-0 2, Jill Theeler 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 14-38 8-11 36.

Stevens (16-6): Becky Hammon 12-19 3-5 29, Jaime Gebhardt 1-1 2-2 4, Heather Erickson 0-3 0-0 0, Jody Riherd 1-5 0-4 2, Jenny Erickson 0-1 0-0 0, Heather Meyer 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 14-32 5-11 35.

Mitchell 10 16 24 30 36

Stevens 12 19 23 30 35

3-point field goals: Mitchell 0; Stevens 2-3 (Hammon 2-3). Total fouls: Mitchell 16; Stevens 10. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Mitchell 20 (Ommen 8); Stevens 13. Assists: Mitchell 8; Stevens 7. Turnovers: Mitchell 16; Stevens 8.