Dakota McQueen

The Wetmore Cardinals are flying high as they are headed back to the State tournament for the first time since 2012, a year in which they had their second best finish at State ever taking fourth in Class 1A-Division II.

The Cardinals went through three opponents in Sub-State and have been riding a wave of success winning 11 of their last 13 games and a big reason for that success has been the play of sophomore, Dakota McQueen. McQueen and the Cardinals started the postseason by dispatching St. Xavier in the opening round of Sub-State with a 60-21 win were Dakota posted six points.

Next up was Southern Cloud and the sophomore put on a scoring show notching 20 points in a 58-42 Sub-State Semifinal win. McQueen scored in multiple ways hitting three three-pointers and going 7-12 from the charity stripe. The Cardinals then faced off against Linn for the Sub-State title and captured the crown behind a hard fought 47-45 win and Dakota scored 11 points.

On the season McQueen has done a little bit of everything for the Cardinals helping lead the way just as a sophomore, as she leads the team in scoring and assists. On the year Dakota averages 13.6 ppg, while filling the rest of the stat sheet with 4.3 rpg, 2.7 spg and 2.5 apg, on top of shooting 77% from the free throw line and 30% from three-point range.

Her best individual offensive game this season came in a win against Pawnee City, when she posted 21 points and went 11-11 from the free throw line.

The Cardinals head into the Sub-State tournament perhaps as an underdog as the seven seed with a 16-8 record, but behind a tough schedule playing in the Twin Valley League the girls bring confidence into the State tournament. McQueen looks to help lead Wetmore as the Cardinals head into the Class 1A-Division II State tournament in Dodge City with confidence.