Sibley-Ocheyedan and West Sioux both scrap upcoming girls basketball seasons

Sibley-Ocheyedan, who also did not play last year at the varsity level, made the state semifinals in 2022-23

There will be no dreams of making it to Wells Fargo Arena and the girls state basketball tournament for Sibley-Ocheyedan or West Sioux this year, as both programs have scrapped their first schedules. / Michelle Gutierrez/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

It has been a rough couple of seasons for the Sibley-Ocheyedan girls basketball program. But not too long ago, things were looking up.

For the second consecutive year, Sibley-Ocheyedan will not field a varsity girls basketball program, scrapping plans and opting out for the 2024-25 season. And they are not the only ones doing so.

According to a report by nwestiowa.com, West Sioux will also do the same, opting out of the upcoming season on the hardwood.

Not only have many schools been hit with dropping enrollment numbers, but that has led to few and few students going out for high school sports. Nebraska has seen teams cancel their upcoming seasons on the hardwood for the very same reason both for boys and girls basketball.

The crazy thing about Sibley-Ocheyedan now having not played a varsity game in two years, is that the program made the Class 2A state semifinals in the 2022-23 season. That team finished 22-4 overall, having earned three consecutive seasons of at least 16 wins.

Sibley-Ocheyedan's roster that year featured six seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen.

"We didnt know how the season and conversations would go," Sibley-Ocheyedan superintendent Stan De Zeeuw said. "Based on the numbers for this year, ages and conversations from last year going in to this year, we made the decision for this year. When you are a smaller school, it is difficult to guess participation rates in advance.

"We feel by working and supporting the JV and JVR programs, in addition to the middle school programs, we can sustain numbers to compete at varsity next year."

West Sioux activities director Ben Bouza cited an enrollment decrease over the last five-or-six years as the main reason for the cancellation of the season.

"Participation is down in general in our activities, not just one sport," Bouza said. "We have a number of programs that have seen a decline during the same time frame."

The Falcons went just 3-19 a year ago, their lowest win total in the last several years. From 2006-2022, they won at least 10 games 15 times, including four years with over 20 wins.

West Sioux had two seniors, two juniors, five sophomores and one freshman on the varsity roster last year.