GRAND FORKS – During the offseason, former Grafton girls basketball standout Walker Demers made the decision to forgo her senior season at Grafton High School to enroll early at South Dakota.
She has no regrets about that decision as she’s now starting at center for the South Dakota Coyotes.
While at Grafton, Demers had a number of big games at The Betty, including Region 2 and North Dakota state Class B tournament games.
She was back at The Betty on Saturday as South Dakota took on North Dakota in a Summit League game.
Naturally, she had a number of flashbacks before the Coyotes and Hawks tipped off.
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“Memories just came flooding back to me,” said the 6-foot-1 center. “It was crazy. I mean, standing on that line is my 1,000th (career high school) point. Sitting on that bench were regional championships, state championships. It felt like I was at my back door.”
Demers scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds against North Dakota, which broke a 14-game losing streak to the Coyotes in its 83-66 win.
The Coyotes, due to injuries, are down to eight healthy players.
“We have like six players out, I’d say, out of 14,” said Demers. “It was a tough game, but no excuses. That's just how the season goes sometimes.”
Demers has played in all 24 South Dakota games this season, and has started eight. She is averaging 6.8 points and 5.0 rebounds. She’s shooting 47 percent, including a 36 percent clip on three-pointers.
At Grafton, Demers led the Spoilers deep into postseason play for three straight seasons. The Spoilers won the 2021 state Class B title.
She finished with more than 1,000 points, 750 rebounds and 200 blocks during her high school career.
While at Grafton, she led the Spoilers to a 110-18 record. As a junior, her last season at Grafton, she averaged 16 points and 10.6 rebounds per game en route to all-state honors.
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She had more than 50 fans and family members from Grafton attend Saturday’s game. She was the last player – from both teams – to leave the court.
The Coyotes are in the middle of the Summit League pack. Demers hopes for a strong finish to the regular season. And South Dakota will again have a solid fan base backing the Coyotes in Sioux Falls during the league’s postseason tournament.
“We’re hoping to finish strong,” she said.
She said she likes everything about her decision to leave Grafton a year early for college basketball.
“It’s going really good,” she said. “I couldn’t be more happy. I couldn’t have made a better decision.”
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