5 GAMES FROM ST. THOMAS; 1 FROM HAMLINE
Today I spent time at two sites with the St. Thomas Thanksgiving tournament featuring the Catholic schools in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa and a return for the last game, the feature game at Hamline. Today’s theme was #1s (I charted four); Some more Turkeys (early) followed by drama worthy of a treat (a shout out to last month’s holiday.
BENILDE-ST. MARGARET’S 56, ROCHESTER LOURDES 29
This game was moved up in the schedule due to the Lourdes football team playing in the state tournament. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they played a late game on Friday night and had the world’s quickest turnaround. It showed in the second half. The Eagles 5 point deficit ballooned in the second half. After nine minutes of action Lourdes only added three more points to the sweet 16 they had at half.
WINONA COTTER 60, ST. AGNES 39
St. Agnes led 10-6 at one point. Then the constant full court pressure wore the Aggies down. They coughed the ball up Hank Aaron sized numbers. This game also featured the lowest pp100 for any team that won and lost.
HILL-MURRAY 81, VISITATION 31
The clear winner for massacre of the day. When you shoot good you look good. HM shot great. They almost had five starters in double digits (plus another off the bench). The Pioneers also tallied eleven 3s on the day. The also targeted the ball in prime scoring country in the paint with 19 baskets there.
Oddly enough Viz had a better pp100 than Lourdes or St. Agnes.
LA CROSSE AQUINAS 61, WDM DOWLING CATHOLIC 59
This featured two state champions from two differing states, but this was the epic game of the day. It also featured a rally from a 10 point deficit. LaCrosse Aquinas trailed 40-30 early in the second half to Iowa’s Dowling Catholic. With four minutes left that lead was down to five. On two consecutive possessions Donarski had a steal & lay up and a regular half court offensive set where she went to the rim making it a one point game. She then nailed a three to give the Blugolds their first lead of the second half 59-57. She tacked on two free throws to finish the game. That was nine points down the stretch in five possessions. That capped a 28 point performance in dramatic fashion to send them down the river with a signature win.
Both teams used a rotation of fresh legs to throw road blocks in front of their prime ball handler. Donarski ended up with the better stat line of the day with 28 points, a 116.7 pp100 and a day’s high 48 in the 31 Club. She had 37 touches for every turnover. Her counterpart at Dowling, Caitlin Clark scored 15 points, came in with a 62.5 pp100; and her 31 club score was one short at 30. The constant pressure also caused more turnovers. Her turnovers per touch was 10.3.
DE LA SALLE 61, HOLY FAMILY 49
If you like free throws, then this was the game for you. A whopping 56 free throws were shot in this game. That is more than the first three games combined. This game broke to #1AAA DLS when Leigh Steiner got into foul trouble and had to sit for the Fire. A 7-5 game got out of hand with the Islanders seemingly in command at 26-11 with three minutes left in the half. Things started to smolder for the Fire as they closed the gap to 30-18 at the break. HF kept chipping away down to 47-43 with 4:24 left. Of the next 14 DLS points 11 came at the free throw line.
HOPKINS 84, STILLWATER 62
It was back to Hamline to see the final Saturday game at Hutton Arena. A sizeable crowd was on hand to see #1 Hopkins pull away from the #8 Ponies of Stillwater. Again the game pivoted on fouls. Stillwater trailed by one when Liza Karlen left with two bang-bang fouls with no clock movement. The first came on a blocking foul which the Royals converting two free throws. On the ensuing pass in, Karlen was called for illegal screen. She was done for the rest of the half with 13:23 left and Stillwater down 11-10. By half it was Hopkins up 38-26.
There are a couple of things worth noting in this contest. The Hopkins starting five are not to be trifled with; as a unit they checked in with a 132.7 pp100. Stillwater’s starters were also north of 100 at 101.9. Hopkins had 10 more minutes for their starters than did the Ponies (foul issues). The featured match up was Paige Bueckers and Sara Scalia in this game. Both lived up to the billing. Bueckers had the better of it with 24 points and 150 pp100 and a 38 in the 31 Club. Scalia delivered 18 points with a 120 pp100. She had a 29 score in the 31 Club.
| TEAM | PTS | PP100 | REB/OFF | TO | FTATT/% | 2FG%/3FG% |
| Benilde-St. Margaret’s | 56 | 96.6 | 35/14 | 7 | 10/50.0 | 42.9/33.3 |
| Rochester Lourdes | 29 | 50.9 | 37/15 | 25 | 9/33.3 | 30.4/21.1 |
| Winona Cotter | 60 | 75.0 | 41/18 | 18 | 11/72.3 | 36.4/17.4 |
| St. Agnes | 39 | 48.8 | 54/21 | 44 | 17/47.1 | 31.1/100.0 |
| Hill-Murray | 81 | 132.8 | 30/10 | 4 | 8/75.0 | 55.3/47.8 |
| Visitation | 31 | 51.7 | 26/4 | 24 | 0/0.0 | 42.4/14.3 |
| LaCrosse Aquinas | 61 | 96.8 | 24/8 | 10 | 4/100.0 | 45.0/43.8 |
| WDM Dowling Catholic | 59 | 92.2 | 36/11 | 17 | 14/50.0 | 47.2/40.0 |
| DeLaSalle | 61 | 88.4 | 36/12 | 21 | 33/57.8 | 42.9/35.3 |
| Holy Family | 49 | 74.2 | 32/14 | 21 | 23/65.2 | 32.4/33.3 |
| Hopkins | 84 | 116.9 | 50/22 | 11 | 20/80.0 | 50.0/23.1 |
| Stillwater | 62 | 84.5 | 34/14 | 14 | 17/58.8 | 44.4/24.0 |
TRENCH PLAYER
GAME 1: Aiana Whitfield of BSM, 14 points, 93.3 pp100, 22 in the 31 Club
GAME 2: Jordan Rubie of WC 12 points, 109.1 pp100; 23 in the 31 Club
GAME 3: Lilli Mackley of HM 17 points, 188.9 pp100, 30 in the 31 Club
GAME 4: Lexi Donarski of LCA 28 points, 116.7 pp100, 48 in the 31 Club
GAME 5: Elaina Jones of DLS 12 points, 92.3 pp100; 24 in the 31 Club
GAME 6: Paige Bueckers of Hopkins 24 points, 150 pp100, 38 in the 31 Club