By 605 Sports Staff

MISSION —- Girls basketball fans in south central South Dakota are excited about tonight’s Winner at Todd County contest. 

Separated by just 40 miles, and since girls basketball became a sanctioned sport in 1975, these two programs have had some battles.

For Winner, names like Jane Nicolaisen, Laura Schramm and Beth Wilcox carried the torch early. For Todd County, names like Totes Waln, Buffy Grimshaw and Sunni Busch evoke more distant memories of this rivalry.

In one of the all-time great games between these two Region 7A powers (2019), Maggie LaCompte hit a pair of late 3-pointers to help lift Winner to an improbable (60-58) win in Mission. In March of 2019, Winner won the Class A girls state title with Todd County finishing fifth. Fans will remember names like Raven Cournoyer and Kelsie Herman from Todd County and Morgan Hammerbeck, Bella Swedlund and Kalla Bertram from Winner. 

That 2019 game can be viewed in its entirety at: https://www.youtube.com/live/5bAHhrNTRh0

Tonight, that rivalry is renewed as Winner vs. Todd County, the 2025 version, goes down tonight.

The varsity game will be livestreamed at

https://www.winnerwarriorslive.com/ and tcfalcons.live with 605 Sports’ Rich Winter on the call.

The Lady Warriors come into tonight’s game with a 3-3 record and are coming off a 59-27 win over Chamberlain on Tuesday, Jan. 7.

Winner dropped a 65-44 decision to undefeated Parkston on Jan. 3. One night later, after falling behind early, Winner battled back in a 63-50 loss to Class A No. 1 Sioux Falls Christian. A balanced Winner team has balance and depth and typically a different player steps forward on any given night.

In Saturdays' loss to Sioux Falls Christian, Adysen Pravecek had 18 points while Lilly Barfuss had eight points. Cora Moss added seven points and Kylie Sachtjen and Katie Olivia Swedlund each had six points. Against Chamberlain, Livvy Audiss scored 15 points while Kylie Sachtjen and Adysen Pravecek each had 11 points. 

Entering the season Todd County (2-3) had just one player returning that had any varsity experience. That youth showed early as Todd County dropped games to Valentine, Nebraska and Chamberlain before losing to Custer and Lower Brule at the Lakota Nation Invitational. The Lady Falcons closed out December with a win over Dupree and a loss to Little Wound. 

On Jan. 3, in a home game against Cheyenne-Eagle Butte, a young Lady Falcons squad began to show signs of life. Trailing by double-digits in the first quarter Todd County battled through some adversity and came out with a 62-58 win as sophomore Luisa Two Eagle pumped in 31 points.