HURON — Mary McDowell paints a pretty good picture of Wolsey’s 1977 state championship game. 

McDowell was a Wolsey High School senior when the Cardinals nipped Clear Lake, 37-36, for its first and only Class B girls basketball championship at the packed Huron Arena. 

On Thursday, some 46 years later at the very same Huron Arena, McDowell recalled the thrill and excitement of watching Wolsey win the title. 

“The crowd coming out of the bleachers when they won and the crowd just engulfed it,” McDowell said. “They really did. There was no room for anybody. It was amazing.” 

On Thursday, McDowell and lifelong friend Karen Schrepel were front row supporting Wolsey-Wessington playing its first-ever Class B state girls basketball tourney as a co-op. 

Something that seemed so far-fetched back when Wolsey and Wessington, separated by 15 miles, were bitter rivals. 

“It’s going to be interesting to see how Wolsey-Wessington does as a merged unit now,” McDowell said. “Because of course when we were in high school we were rivals. Big time rivals.” 

In 1976 and ‘77, the Wessington Warriors and Wolsey Cardinals collided in the District 13B girls basketball championship games. In 1976, Wessington defeated Wolsey (30-23) en route to a seventh-place finish and its only state tourney appearance. In 1977, Wolsey outlasted Wessington (37-36) in the District 13B championship game en route to the state championship and a 24-0 season. 

“The competition was so obvious,” McDowell said. “But now they are working together for the same goal.” 

In the 1977 state tournament, Wolsey outlasted Clear Lake for its only state championship. The Cardinals were powered by all-tourney selections Janelle Frank and Jean Boomsma. Boomsma, who at 6-foot-1 was the tallest player in the tournament, totaled 42 points in the three games. Frank added 38 points in the tourney.  They were both all-state selections. 

But Debbie Jungemann provided the winning free throws in the one-point win, said McDowell. 

“She made the winning two points on free throws,” McDowell recalled. “They possibly would not have won that game had she not had those free throws and made them. So you know how close of a game it was.” 

Schrepel was the team’s mascot for the 1977 state championship team. However, she missed the championship game to be with her mother, who was sick with cancer. 

But she still remembers the thrill of tiny Wolsey winning its first and only state championship. 

“Most of those on the team were seniors that I was with,” Schrepel said. “So it was special our senior year winning the tournament. It was just fantastic.”