Madison, SD -- In the home opener for both teams, the Madison girls’ and boys’ basketball teams took on Tri-Valley at the DSU Fieldhouse. The girls lost to the Mustangs 50-34 while the boys won 56-48.

The Lady Bulldogs and Mustangs traded leads all throughout the first half. With Tri-Valley leading 26-23, Bailey Milne nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer to tie the game at halftime. From there, it was all Tri-Valley as the Mustangs held Madison to just nine second-half points. Bulldog head coach Adam Ericsson says Tri-Valley was able to establish its inside game, which gave them the edge.

 

Allison Cross led all scorers as she had 21 points for Tri-Valley. Taylor Swier had 14 points while Cross also had 8 rebounds. Chloe Nordling led Madison with 13 points while Bailey Milne and Abby Andresen had 8 points each.

In the nightcap, Madison established an early 8-2 lead, but had to hold off several Tri-Valley challenges, finally leading at halftime 27-26. Junior guard Mason Sullivan says the first half was definitely a back-and-forth game.



The Bulldogs held Tri-Valley to just four third-quarter points as they were able to pull away to win their first game of the season. Sullivan says a big reason for that was Madison’s defense.



Sullivan led Madison with 13 points while Kyle Roeman added 10 points. Matt DeBilzan had 9 points while Tyler Wiebe shot 6-7 from the charity strip in the second half to finish with 8 points and 8 rebounds. Brandon Boomsma came off the bench to lead Tri-Valley with 15 points while Kenton Welbig added 12.

Madison’s girls travel to Lennox Thursday night while the boys host Vermillion at the Middle School Gym.