Playing to your strengths.
That is how the McCook Central/Montrose Fighting Cougars are going to have to defeat St. Thomas More, the #1 team in Class A. The Fighting Cougars are the #8 seed in the Class A State Tournament, but no matter what seed they are, Coach Doug Durfee knows that every game will be tough.
After all, this is the third time his team has made the state tournament in the past 4 years.
“We are fortunate we have been here 3 out of 4 years,” Durfee said. “We get to this point they are all tough, but I don’t think it matters what seed we are, we are going to play a team that plays high level basketball. We will just have to play to our strengths.”
The Fighting Cougars have been playing to their strengths all season, resulting in wins against Mt.Vernon/Plankinton (57-44), Howard (47-46), Flandreau (71-52), Parkston (64-52), and Garretson (64-52). And maybe their strongest strength has been staying with their game plan, most notably in their Sodak 16 game against a tough Hill City team.
“We really executed our game plan,” Durfee said. “It wasn’t a pretty game but we knew their strength was to get up and down the court really fast, so we kind of took their strengths away. Our defense played a great game.”
The season hasn’t always been a straight climb up, as McCook Central/Montrose lost 50-49 to Flandreau in a tough road game during the middle of the season. However, since that game, the Fighting Cougars have stepped up and are now playing their best basketball of the season.
“That was a tough game and we always have tough battles with them year in and year out,” Durfree said of the Flandreau loss. “We played really well that whole second half of the season.”
Coach Durfee credits the success to a strong varsity rotation with multiple players being able to play well.
“We have had some girls who have all stepped up in big moments…when we need them they are called upon. We are very comfortable playing 7 deep. We are a pretty well balanced team, and play really well together.”
Now, the Fighting Cougars (17-5) will need all their players to play well in their noon matchup against St.Thomas More (20-1) on Thursday. And they will have all the community support they will need give themselves their best chance of winning.
“Our community support is unbelievable. It never disappoints. It doesn’t matter if we are traveling 2 hours on a Tuesday away game or a home game,” Durfree said. “We are going to have a great showing at Watertown as well.”
This article is part of the new series of State Tournament Previews.
