By Matt Gade

605 Sports

RAPID CITY — Keith and Kristie Moore love basketball and love that their girls love to play it too. 

That’s why in the past four months, the Moores have logged more than 18,000 miles driving back and forth to catch their daughters’ basketball games.

The Moores have five daughters in total, Izzy, Ava, Lucy, Ruby and Ivy. 

Izzy was a redshirt senior for the Wolves at Northern State this past season, earning first-team All-NSIC honors after starting all 29 games leading the team with a 19.7 points per game average, along with 6.7 rebounds per game. Izzy played with her younger sister Lucy, a redshirt freshman on the Wolves squad. While Ruby is currently a junior guard for the Sioux Falls O’Gorman Knights and Ivy is an eighth grader playing for the Avera Select club basketball. 

Ava is the lone Moore daughter not playing basketball this year as she’s finishing up her senior year of college at Northwestern University. 

“We bought a new car about four months ago, five months ago, and we've already put 18,000 on it,” Keith said. 

“A not-so-new Honda Pilot,” Kristie added. 

“On top of that, our daughter at Northwestern dates a Northwestern basketball player. So we drove last Saturday to Minneapolis to watch the Northwestern-Minnesota game, then drove back on Sunday, as if our own girls don't have enough,” Kristie said with a laugh.

Keith and Kristie were standout athletes back in their day, so it’s no wonder where their daughters’ passion for basketball comes from.

Keith was an all-state basketball player and a state champion for Lyman in 1985 before going to play college at Northern State University, and has been inducted into the Wolves athletic hall of fame. 

Kristie was a multi-sport athlete at Stanley County competing in basketball, gymnastics and track and field. Kristie (Hallock) Moore was inducted into the Stanley County High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 for her accomplishments.

While the girls’ schedules keep them busy, and this year has been hands down their busiest, Keith and Kristie said they have loved every moment of attending their daughters’ games.

“Trying to keep up with that, it's been awesome. I mean, I tell people all the time, it makes all the traveling and everything fun,” Keith said. “We're both basketball fans, so as a basketball Dad, it’s just been awesome for them to choose it, love it, play it. So it has been hard, but also, all of it has just been fantastic.”

Lucy, left, and Izzy Moore together for the Northern State University women's basketball team this season. (Courtesy Kory Burdick)

Kristie said she and Keith plan out everything they can to make sure they can plan everything out. This year, they said they prioritized Izzy this year as the lone senior finishing out her college career, while they said they will probably prioritize Ruby’s senior year at O’Gorman before she heads off to Brookings, where she has already committed to play for South Dakota State.

“It's so fun to think about when you put in so much time and effort into your kids,” Keith said. “I told Izzy when she was done this year, we've been doing this for so long. We came home from Washington, DC in 2012, and we've been playing basketball with her since.

“So to watch her grow, and watch her put time and effort into it, and the struggles of college basketball college was a roller coaster for her. Then to have the year she had this year, which was just an unbelievable year for her, an all-conference year, and just play so well. It's just so fun.”

Since 2012, Keith said they had gone through two other vehicles, racking up nearly 300,000 miles each before they got their newest vehicle roughly four months ago.

Getting to be a part of his daughters’ big moments puts a smile on Keith’s face when he thinks about it. Such as last season, when O’Gorman capped a perfect season with the Class AA state championship.

“You get blessed,” Keith said. “Like last year, we won their state tournament. You know, Ruby comes down, hits a big three, gets a big steal, hits a floater. We were down four with 50 seconds left, and you win the game. You kind of watch that. This feels surreal. You know, when your kid does that.”

To say they have logged miles would be just part of it. Keith said the longest drive was going from Sioux Falls to Minot and then back to Aberdeen in the same day. 

Not to be outdone, though, another adventure included a drive up to Bemidji for a Thursday game for NSU and then immediately back to Sioux Falls so they could catch Ruby’s game against Washington that Friday night before going up to Duluth on Saturday for another NSU contest.

Kristie said that while it is a lot of travel, she loves it.

“We try not to miss a thing. It's just a special way to relate to your kids and bring a family closer together,” Kristie said. “I mean, the games, all the wins are super fun, but it's those moments behind the scenes when you can point kids towards what really matters and what you know you're mostly concerned about, and when you're open like that, in that way, it just makes parenting just a privilege and special.”

The Moore family pose for Izzy's senior night recognition. (Courtesy Kory Burdick)