BROOKINGS — The Ranchers are rolling into the Class B state championship.

No. 6 Harding County (24-1) relied on its depth and suffocating defense to shut down No. 2 Parkston, 58-42, advancing to its first girls basketball state championship since 2001.

“It’s amazing, I don’t even know what to say about it,” said HC head coach Jay Wammen. “It still really hasn’t hit yet. It’s like a dream almost right now. It’s been a long time since we’ve been in a state girls basketball championship.”

“It’s so special," said senior forward Kaylen Padden. "I love this team, we’ve grown so much together and being here three times and knowing we’re coming in here the lowest seeded we’ve been. Just being here with them as friends more than teammates, it’s just so special to me.”

Following last night’s win over Bennett County in which the Ranchers forced 37 turnovers, it followed that performance with another 20 turnovers in the semifinals against the Trojans.

The Ranchers entered the Class B state tournament allowing under 27 points per game, and while that number has gone up since coming into First Bank & Trust Arena, scoring on the West River squad hasn’t gotten any easier.

“That’s what we love about practice is just being able to get after each other and be aggressive and put in what we’ve put in,” said Padden of the defensive effort. “That’s my favorite part of the game and it shows.”

“The girls are relentless,” said Wammen. “They give max effort every second they’re out there and it just helps too that we’re so deep, so when we do get tired we can rotate 2-3 girls in and not skip a beat.”

HC took control of the opening eight minutes with a 20-14 advantage. A layup from senior guard Raelee Hunsucker pushed the Rancher lead to 11 late in the first half.

The constant pressure and effort given by the Ranchers on the defensive end continued into the third quarter, going up by as much as 16 following a Maci Wammen bucket. With a 44-32 lead going into the final quarter, the deep bench bolstered by Wammen’s squad never let up, pulling away for a win in the Class B state semifinals.

“It was just so exciting,” said Padden. “It was a lot of nerves knowing that we could do it and just having to get it done. It’s just so exciting to be here with my team.”

“Our team was focused, our team was ready to play,” coach Wammen said. “I’m going to give Parkston credit, they handled our press really well so we had to play more in the half court than we normally do and we played really good halfcourt defense tonight.”

The Ranchers won the rebounding battle by 15 while limiting Parkston to just 29.7% from the floor. The Trojans’ junior guard Berkley Ziebart, who poured in an efficient 26 points against Centerville on Thursday, was limited to just 15 points on 3-of-12 shooting from the floor, hitting 9-of-11 free throw attempts. Parkston’s Keeara Oakley also had 17 points and two steals in the loss.

Between the dominant win in the rebounding department and tight defense throughout, it’s a philosophy that’s been built over the past few years that is finally showing on the biggest stage.

“We’ve done it all year long, we knew we just had to keep putting it in tonight,” Padden said. “It’s all about the mental, the hard work and we knew we wanted it and that’s what we did.”

“It has been since our early season loss to Corsica-Stickney, I believe that made us a lot better. We got outrebounded by about 14 and that’s been a point of emphasis going forward,” coach Wammen said of the Ranchers’ rebounding. “I think we proved that at the state tournament against Bennett County and again tonight. We rebounded with max effort.”

And it was another usual night for the deep Ranchers lineup offensively. Seven different players finished with five or more points, with Kaylen Padden leading the charge with 13 to go along with four rebounds and two steals.

“It starts at practice and we push each other to get better,” Padden said of the depth. “We know that if somebody has a bad night, then somebody else is going to step up and do it, even the bench, it doesn’t matter. It’s about how much you want it rather than your age or whatever it is.”

Carson Page collected 10 points, five rebounds and two blocks, Maci Wammen added eight points and two assists, Macey Wendt had six points, three rebounds and two steals, Hunsucker collected six points and three boards, Sattyn Wilson had six points, two rebounds and two steals, Brayden Padden added five points with seven rebounds while Kamry Padden totaled four points, seven boards, four assists and two steals for the Ranchers.

“It’s so balanced. We have eight girls that average over six points per game and no one that averages more than 13 and that’s kind of how we roll every night,” coach Wammen said. “We hardly have anyone that scores over 20 points because we share the ball so well and have a lot of options to score.”

The final test in Harding County’s state championship run will be with No. 4 Ethan on Saturday at 6:45 p.m., CT. The Rustlers knocked off No. 8 Corsica-Stickney, 54-34, earlier in the night to advance to the state championship.

“We got to want it, we got to work hard, we’ve got to board up and allow only one shot,” Kaylen Padden said. “We’ve got to be up and on our best defense for sure and hopefully we can match them with shooting too.”

“Ethan’s a well-oiled machine,” coach Wammen said. “They shoot the ball extremely well from the outside, have great guard play, and rebound well. It’s going to be a tough battle, but we’re excited for the challenge.”