Evelyn Williams, age 86 of Wall, South Dakota, died Wednesday, February 23, 2011, at the Good Samaritan Center in New Underwood.



Evelyn Melba Knapp was born November 27, 1924, at her parents' home west of Wall, South Dakota, near Sage Creek Bridge, the daughter of Joseph "Joe" and Opal (Drey) Knapp. She spent the first year of her life on a ranch near Sage Creek. In 1925, she moved with her family to a farm and ranch four miles southwest of Wall. This ranch is now known as the H & K Ranch.

Evelyn attended school at the North Star Rural School and in Wall.

Julia M. "Julie" Dorothy, age 93 of Sioux Falls, formerly of Philip, SD, died Wednesday, February 23, 2011, at the Good Samaritan Sioux Falls Villages in Sioux Falls.



Julia M. "Julie" McGrath was born September 23, 1917 in Wecota, South Dakota, the daughter of Alvia McGrath and Olive (Smith) McGrath. As a young child she moved with her parents to western South Dakota to her mother's homestead near Powell, in October 1919. She attended country school near her home for eight years.

The Lady Scotties traveled to Murdo to challenge the Jones County Coyotes, Tuesday, February 8. Philip varsity returned with a 22-61 loss, the junior varsity with a 29-23 win and the "C" team with a 19-25 loss.

The varsity game began with the air of a competitive match. The Lady Scotties trailed by only three points. Then, the other three quarters did not go well for Philip.

Philip 6 5 11 0 = 22

Jones Co. 9 25 13 14 = 61

Philip scorers: Molly Coyle - 6, Tomilyn Trask and Josie Guptill - 4 each, Kady Pinney and Krista Wells - 3 each, Katie Hostutler - 2.

The annual West River Girls' Basketball Tournament was held Thursday, Friday and Saturday, February 10-12.

Thursday and Fridays games took place in Newell or Hot Springs. Saturday games were held at Rapid City Central High School.

The Philip Lady Scotties first faced off against the Faith Longhorns. The Scotties quickly grabbed the lead, with a 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. At the end of the first half, Philip still had the lead, with a 21-16 halftime score. The third quarter saw a turn around where Faith caught up to and pulled ahead of Philip.

The 2011 District 7B Wrestling Tournament was held in Hot Springs, Saturday, February 12.

The Philip Area Scotties, as a team earned second place with 161.5 points.

The other team placings were: 1st - Hot Springs - 186.0, 3rd - Custer - 132.0, 4th - Bennett County - 122.5, 5th - Red Cloud - 60.0, 6th - Hill City - 46.50, 7th - St. Thomas More - 40.0.

Individually, the top four placed wrestlers in each weight division at district progress on to the region tournament.

The Philip boys' basketball team traveled to Newell to challenge the Irrigators, Monday, February 14.

The team returned with a resounding 73-63 victory.

The first quarter was a morale booster for the Scotties, with them not only taking the lead, but pretty much owning it with a 13-point advantage. The second quarter saw a pick up of offensive success by the Irrigators, but Philip still increased its lead by another point.

The beginning of the second half was Philip's turn to have a bad quarter. The Scotties' once comfortable lead was cut back by seven points by Newell.

The Scotties fought their way back and fourth through countless tied scores up to the last five seconds of play against the visiting Dupree Tigers, Saturday, February 12.

The first three and one half minutes looked dismal for Philip, with a 0-10 score. With just over two minutes left in the first quarter, the score was 4-17. Philip surprized the Tigers with repeated and mostly unanswered baskets to end the quarter 13-19. Though the Scotties got the first basket in the second quarter, any hopeful gain just wasn't there.

The boys' basketball game Friday, February 11, in Philip against the Lyman Raiders, saw offensive surges by the Scotties as they threatened to come from behind to defeat the Raiders.

Those surges were not strong enough, though, with the Scotties falling just three points short. The final score was 42-45.

Their opponents more than doubled the Scotties' score in the first quarter. Then, in the rest of the first half, Philip held the Raiders to just four points while making 10 more of their own. The half ended 18-21.

By only one basket, the third quarter went to Lyman.

Business of the Philip Chamber of Commerce was quickly completed during the Monday, February 14, meeting before a lengthy, committee progress report was made by the Scotty Philip Memorial Wagon Train committee.

Invitations to join the chamber will be sent out to area businesses and individuals. Chamber president Ron Larson said, "It's a different chamber of commerce than some people remember from 20 years ago. We are doing something, trying to draw people to the area."

Ranchers, farmers and other family businesses are encouraged to look into membership.

The Haakon School District 27-1 Board of Education held its regular meeting Monday, February 14.

Nominating petitions for four board of education seats must be filed no later than 5:00 p.m., Friday, February 25. So far, one petition has been filed, by Doug Thorson.

The board consists of seven members. Bill Slovek and Vonda Hamill are both finishing up one-year appointments. Two years will remain on what normally would have been three-year seats.