WHITE — Mataya Gouws has always been about the team.

The 5-foot-11 senior forward burst onto the scene last season as a major contributor to the Dolphins’ first-ever girls basketball team to make a state tournament, a feat that has only added to the overall expectations this year.

“It brought to myself and our team really high expectations,” Gouws said. “It showed people and other schools what we’re really capable of.”

And with four returning starters from last year’s squad, Gouws says the team gained a lot of confidence from playing against the best in the state.

“It’s pretty reassuring knowing we have most of our same talent than we did last year and if not more because of the underclassmen that are playing and are really bringing a lot of what we didn’t use last year,” Gouws said. “Although we did lose the one starter, a lot of the sophomores and juniors are coming up and playing really well.”

The three-year starter is a returning all-state honorable mention selection that averaged 13.3 points and six rebounds per game, totaling 43 steals as well. But this season Gouws says she’s taken a big jump in her leadership role along with fellow seniors Neely Gustad, Brynnlee Hanson, Matte Bauman, Carly Engelstad and Kiana Schmit.

Deubrook Area's Mataya Gouws (11) boxes out on a free throw during a girls basketball matchup with De Smet on Dec. 12, 2025, in White. (Jon Akre / 605 Sports)

“Me and the other seniors, we have been taking the leadership spot very seriously,” Gouws said. “We bring our team together and show the younger players how much hard work it takes to get to the state tournament.”

For head coach Brad DeBeer, he’s seen a big jump in Gouws’ overall confidence and a big part of that came from last season’s experience at the state tournament.

“She was always a nice player, always been athletic,” DeBeer said of Gouws. “But her confidence has grown so much in the last six-to-eight months since last basketball season when she figured out at the state tournament she can play with the best kids in our class and in the state.”

The left-hander has also developed different ways to score the basketball, working immensely in the offseason to use her non-dominant hand in the post.

“She doesn’t shoot the three enough in my eyes, but she’s been able to find ways to score in the paint,” DeBeer said. “This summer we’ve been hammering her hard to use her right hand and she’s done some things this year where she’s been able to go to that right hand and build confidence in that. She’s not your prototypical post player, she likes to face the basket more than back to the basket so I think that gives her the opportunity to be a little bit better.”

This season Gouws’ scoring output has slightly dipped to just over 11 points per game, averaging just shy of seven boards as well. DeBeer attributes that to teams now having the film on a key contributor of the Dolphins’ offense.

“I think she can be one of the top-10 players in Class B when she wants to do that,” DeBeer said. “And it’s not that she doesn’t want to, but this year what she’s seeing is so much more double teams. 

“Last year, we were pretty unknown for the most part outside of the walls of Deubrook High School. We knew what we had, but people started to see her at the state tournament like ‘Oh my gosh, this girl can play a little bit.’ Well now film adds up in everybody’s libraries and they’re watching. We’ve seen this year where defenses have been set to make other people win the ballgames for us.”

And it’s been a slight adjustment period for Deubrook Area (9-7) that recently dropped four straight games to Gayville-Volin (52-47), Dell Rapids St. Mary (52-43), Flandreau (41-27) and Rapid City Christian (56-54) before rattling off two wins over Madison and the top seed in Region 2B Arlington.

Deubrook Area's Mataya Gouws goes up for a layup during a girls basketball game against Beresford on Jan. 17, 2025, in White. (Jon Akre / 605 Sports)

Gouws finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds against the Bulldogs and another 17 points and 10 boards over Arlington, but says playing team basketball has been the biggest key in the team’s success.

“We work way better when we work as a team and when everyone can fill up the different parts of the stat sheet,” Gouws said. “We all kind of just know what we need to pick up on during the game and contribute in that way.”

And it’s continued to show throughout the season with five players averaging between eight and 12 points on the year. 

“We just need to keep playing as a team and keep going 100% in practice and show up outside of practice times to get those extra shots in,” Gouws said. “When we all work as a team, we know what we need to work on. Whether it’s rebounding, shooting or defense. Our defense carries our momentum and I feel like if we keep up with the intensity that we do, we should have a good chance.”

And for the Dolphins to continue finding success, Gouws says they’ll need to continue playing team-friendly basketball, starting with a trip to Class B No. 4 Colman-Egan on Feb. 13.

“You can’t win those games depending on one person but when we rely on each other and have good team communication, it really helps in those kinds of games,” Gouws said. “Colman-Egan is a very intense team but if our defense can get us going, our shots will start to fall and that really helps against a team like that.”