File Photo Royals senior Skotti Beck (21) guards TMCHS Aubree Jeanotte (15) at the 2024 NDHSAA Girls Basketball State Tournament at the MSU Dome on March 6.

Last season did not end as head coach Cory MacIver had hoped, but he has high hopes for his South Prairie-Max girls basketball team this season.

Basketball, like any other team based high school sport, sees a lot of change between seasons with students graduating and other students joining the team, but the Royals’ girls basketball team only lost a single senior to graduation, meaning most of their squad is returning to the court this season. The Royals are rife with talent this year in the form of star players like junior Rylee Routledge and seniors Skotti Beck and Maycie Talbott. Skotti and Macey have already committed to continuing their basketball careers after high school, signing in late November to play for Minot State and the University of Jamestown respectively. Coach MacIver said that the key to finding the team’s groove in the new season is just finding the right squad.

“The luxury we’ve had the last couple of years is we haven’t lost a lot of girls due to graduation, and so we have had the same squad for the last two or three years,” said Coach Maciver. “Now, it’s just a matter of finding some girls, whether they are lower classmen or just girls that weren’t a regular playing varsity ball last year, and find a way to get them in the mix.”

Last season was a tough one for the Royals. Despite dropping the region title in their regional tournaments, the Royals were able to fight their way through the qualifying rounds and ended up second seed heading into the state tournament. The Royals fought hard in the semifinals match, but they were ultimately defeated by Valley City High School, losing by just one point at 60-59. And although the preseason media polls have put the Royals in the number one spot for the region, Coach Maciver says that they still have a lot to prove.

“We have been one of the top teams in that A Division for the last handful of years. This year, they have us ranked number one in our division and got us top five in the state,” said Coach MacIver. “We’ve got some other things that we need to prove to people as well. You know, we have yet to win our region. The last couple of years, we’ve gone into the region tournament [as] the number one seed, and we’ve had to fight for our way to get to the state tournament through those qualifying games. Just with our region alone, we still have some things that we have to prove that we can be that top team at the end of the year.”

Coach MacIver says that the early confidence from media and coaches is not going to the Royals’ heads, they are still very aware that they will have to earn each and every win this season, since, in Coach MacIver’s words, “it is kind of a feather in your cap to say that you knocked off one of the top teams in a division. And so we know that going in, when we step out onto the floor every night, we’re going to get the absolute best from teams.”

That tough competition came early this season for the Royals in the form of the Carrington Cardinals. The Royals took on the Cardinals in their season opener on Monday, Dec. 1. Carrington also fell to Valley City in last years’ state tournament during the quarterfinals, and they came into the first game of the season ready to fight. The Cardinals overtook the Royals in the last few minutes of the match, eking out a victory over South Prairie-Max 54-47. But at this point in the season, the loss doesn’t seem to stress Coach MacIver.

“You know, that’s something that coaches deal with all the time,” said Coach MacIver. “We showed glimpses of what we’ve been able to do that last couple of years of pressuring the ball, getting turnovers and getting layup transitions, but we still have to prove to people that we can put a whole game together. Talking with the girls in school, they’re glad it happened now. Better off something like that happen now early in the year, than later in the year when seeding for the region tournament is in play or even in the state tournament if we are fortunate enough to make it there, you don’t want to be having miscues late in the year.”

Coach MacIver says that he and his team take great pride in their recognition as one of the top teams in the state, but he knows ultimately that it is just a number, albeit, a number that carries a lot of responsibility.

“There is an expectation there that you know they’re ranking you there, that they are putting you there because you’re one of the top teams in the division. So you have to go out every night and play like that,” said Coach MacIver. “You’re going to have to go out and you’re going to have to earn that and prove to people that we deserve that ranking.

The Royals have a tough schedule that they are facing this season, but Coach MacIver remains optimistic. He believes that this year’s team can take the Royals all the way.

“Its not going to be an ebay task,” said Coach MacIver, “We’ve got the girls here at South Prairie that are willing to take that challenge, so I’m just kind of excited to see what unfolds throughout the year and how we respond to setback and how we can come back and be a better team because of it.”